The Elizabeth Project
by madelynemore
Summary: Two and a half years after the Promised Day, Roy and Riza go on a mission to recover Dr. Marcoh's stolen Philosophers Stone. The catch? Roy is still blind, and they have to disguise themselves as an engaged couple. (Royai).
1. Chapter 1

It was two and a half years after the Promised Day. Hawkeye walked down the street. She held a small bouquet of pink flowers that she had seen on a floral cart on the side of the road. The sky was shining and the weather was warm. A little too warm for the Amestris military uniform, which was why Hawkeye was glad she ditched that for her basic black shirt and cargo pants.

Hawkeye turned and walked up the steps of a small house. She pulled a ring of keys out of her pocket that was attached by a chain to her belt loop. She leafed through the keys until she got to the one she wanted. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. She closed the door behind her and headed further into the house.

Hawkeye walked passed the kitchen and smelled a waft of spices. She chuckled softly to herself and walked into the kitchen. She opened one of the cabinets and grabbed a vase out of it with her right hand. She walked over to the sink and filled up the vase. She put the flowers in the vase and placed them on the central counter.

"You're later than usual," a deep voice said behind her. "And what did you bring me this time? Smells like some flowers."

Hawkeye nodded and turned around. "Yes, sir. I got them from the most peculiar of florists. They really sold me on the flowers when they told me that these particular flowers are good for those that need help."

Mustang's nose wrinkled. "Hey, who's cooking, here? Who really needs the help around here, Captain 'Can't Lift Her Left Arm Above Her Head?'"

Hawkeye rolled her left shoulder. "I'm working on it, sir."

He laughed a deep, rich laugh that he gave oh so well. His laugh was so rich it made Hawkeye shiver.

"Loosen up, Captain," he said with a smile. "I'm only kidding. Besides, I'm blind. I can't even see you lift your arms."

Hawkeye leaned against the counter and took a deep breath. "When are you going to let Marcoh heal you anyway? He healed Havoc almost a full year ago, yet you keep holding him off."

Mustang took the food he had been cooking off of the stove. "Do you want some lunch? I may be blind, but the food is still good."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I wasn't planning on staying for long. Fuhrer Grunman wanted me to come in later today to get some simple desk work done."

Mustang shook his head. "That crazy old man." He put some of the food onto two plates. "I'm sure he'll understand if you stick around."

Hawkeye laughed. "Are you afraid of being alone? Did Armstrong leave or something?"

Mustang nodded. "He also left for some business with Grunman. He'll be gone for a few days since he has to travel west for whatever the Fuhrer is having him do." He put his hands on the counter and leaned against it. "It's not that I'm afraid of being alone, Captain. It is just that it has already been a long day, and I would rather not be alone right now."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen, sir?"

He nodded. "Yesterday, Marcoh came by. He had some news to share. I should have known that it couldn't have been good."

She reached a hand out and put it on his shoulder. "What news did he bring?"

Mustang laughed. "You know, after two and a half years, I had come to terms with my blindness and had even gotten really good with doing all of my day to day tasks without my sight. Thanks to you, Armstrong, everyone really, even Black Hayate." He put a hand on hers. "But hearing that the Philosopher's Stone had been stolen from Marcoh really puts a damper on things."

"Stolen?"

He nodded. "Some punk stole it and used it to make a getaway. Seems like Marcoh has made quite the reputation out east."

Hawkeye slowly moved her hand out of his. "Is there a current effort to find it again?"

"Alphonse is working towards narrowing suspects."

She nodded. "Is that the only effort we have out there? Philosopher Stones can be a huge trouble in the wrong hands. I should see if Grunman will allow me to go out there and help Al."

Mustang shook his head. "Captain, I will not allow you to go to Youswell by yourself. There's a maniac on the loose with a Philosophers Stone, and you are no alchemist. You're good with your guns, but there's no way that you could take the guy on your own."

Hawkeye rolled her eyes. "But, sir, that maniac is what stops you from getting your sight back."

"Well, have you ever asked yourself what if I don't want my sight back?" Mustang said through gritted teeth. "This has only made me stronger. I've done just fine without it."

She frowned. "I highly doubt that you would be able to stop me, even with this new found strength that you have."

Mustang reached out and grabbed her arm, gently. "Riza, please," he said softly. "Stop this. I'm fine, really. You need to take a deep breath and calm down. You have seen what I can do without my sight. I'm fully capable of fighting. I still have a job. This hasn't exactly been something that has limited me from doing whatever I needed to do. Don't mistake my vacation time for something else."

Hawkeye kept a stern look on her face before taking a deep breath. "Mustang, I'm well aware of everything that you are capable of. After all, I am the cause of some of it. I just worry that you'll get caught up in wanting to be Fuhrer again and let a little thing like this slide will prevent that from happening. No one is going to trust a blind leader, physically and figuratively."

He patted her arm and chuckled. "Don't worry. There will be a day when I am Fuhrer, and there will be a day that I will get my sight back. I'm not necessarily too worried about which order those come in. Now, how about some food?"

She jabbed a finger into his chest, making him stumble back a bit. "Goddammit, sir. You're foolish to think that I shouldn't worry about you. You have been even more reckless since the Promise Day." She tensed her body up. "Even if you won't let me go out to Youswell to help Al, I'm going to do whatever I can here to help."

Mustang smirked and reached over and grabbed a plate of food. He handed it to Hawkeye. "I wouldn't expect anything different."

Hawkeye took the plate and walked over to the small table that was by the window. She sat down and looked over at Mustang. He looked like he had not slept at all during the previous night. He obviously had not shaved since he started his vacation two days ago. His hair was a mess, and his white button up shirt and black pants were dishevelled. Her guess was that he had stayed up all night also trying to figure out what happened to the Philosophers Stone. That would be just like him.

Mustang took a seat across the small round table from her. He noticed that there was a change in the atmosphere around him. He could feel her gaze on him.

They both ate in silence for a few moments before Mustang cleared his throat. "So, Captain, has there been any news from Fullmetal about his new little predicament he's gotten himself into?"

Hawkeye shook her head and shrugged. "Kind of, not really. Though, you should stop calling it a predicament, sir. He's engaged now, not stuck out in some war in the west. Winry, on the other hand, has been preparing everything from what I've heard. She's already sent out invitations."

Mustang scoffed. "I haven't received one. I know Fullmetal and I had a few issues over the years, but you would think that I would have been invited."

Hawkeye chuckled. "I didn't think you were the wedding type. After all, was it not you that said you wanted all of the female soldiers to wear 'tiny miniskirts?'"

He laughed nervously and his face turned a slight shade of red. "Yeah, that was then. I'm a changed man, Captain, and that is something I no longer would implement. Some people would get no work done, and, you know, it would make it difficult for them to fight."

She smiled. "I'm glad. Though, I would not have worn that anyway."

"If I became Fuhrer before I became the man I am today, then I don't think you would have much of a choice."

"Oh, I would have had a choice. I may have said that I would follow you to Hell, but that doesn't mean that I'll listen to every order you give. If I had, then I think both of us would be dead by now."

Mustang pursed his lips. "Oh yeah? I think I've done pretty well saving myself from death. Remember that one time after my fight with Lust and even you thought I was dead. You wasted bullets and tears because you were convinced I was dead."

Now, Hawkeye's face was a light shade of red. "I took a few of her lives, so I don't think it was a total waste."

"And what about when Envy disguised himself as me?"

Hawkeye stammered. "H-he tried to convince me that he was you, but he made a mistake that led me to know it was him."

"But there had to be a reason he picked me instead of someone else to disguise as."

She shoved food in her mouth until it was full, so she could not speak. She mumbled some incoherent noise and shrugged. Mustang smiled and shook his head.

"I received an invitation, so if you really want to go, then you can," she said, bringing it back to the other conversation.

Mustang nodded. "We'll see when the day comes. Who knows? I may be Fuhrer by then."

She leaned back in her chair and chuckled. "Well, there wasn't a date on it yet, since Ed's still out west doing his research, but I'll let you know when it's finalised."

Mustang mimicked her body language, even though he could not see her to be able to do so. He rubbed the stubble that was on his chin and frowned.

"I should shave," he mumbled.

Hawkeye smiled. "As long as you don't make a fashion of some facial hair, I think you'll be okay while you're on vacation, sir."

Mustang smiled and took a deep breath. "Yes, ma'am, Captain, ma'am."

She shook her head and stood up. "I should get going to command. Grunman's going to start wondering where I am if I don't show up soon."

He leaned his head back. "I already told you that he can handle you not going in for a day. Besides, I have some work for you to do here. You are under my immediate command anyway."

"I don't think that counts when you are on vacation."

"It counts when you are on vacation, right, Elizabeth?"

Hawkeye smirked and shook her head. "Those were times that desperate times called for desperate measures. You cannot be using this against me right now, sir."

Mustang chuckled. "I guess I am." He took a deep breath. "Hughes would do this to me, too, when he was on vacation. He'd try to get me to not do my work, or distract me enough from it to where I couldn't get anything done."

She sat back down slowly. "Remember his idea of an energy booster? He would go on about Elicia until you did your work actively enough."

He looked over in Hawkeye's direction and nodded curtly. "She's almost seven years old. I wonder what majestic present he'd get for me to give her this year."

She took a deep breath. "I'll stay."

He had a solemn look on his face. Remembering Hughes was never a fun activity to do; especially after all of the trouble it took to track down his murderer. The whole event was not something either of the military pair liked to remember. The events that led to the Promise Day were a touchy subject, but they never regretted doing what they had to do to stop the whole of Amestris from being destroyed. If they had not had happened, then Mustang and Hawkeye would not be as close as they were. They were both indebted to each other.

Mustang stood up and reached a hand over to Hawkeye.

"There's something that I'd like to show you."

She took his hand and stood up as well. He led her out of the kitchen and down a short hall and into the spare room at the end on the right. He snapped his fingers and a few candles around the room lit up.

"You've gotten really good at that circle-less alchemy," she said, looking around.

He dropped her hand and nodded. She walked further into the room and glanced at the walls. There were pictures on the walls that were attached by strings. There were also newspaper clippings that were attached to some of the pictures.

She gaped slightly. "What is all of this?"

Mustang frowned. "Research from Xing and other countries about their research on either Philosophers Stones or any type of healing alchemy that there is. I haven't been completely helpless nor have I given up, despite what you may think."

She turned back around and looked at him. "Has there been any headway?"

Mustang shrugged. "Feury has helped me organise all of this, and there have only been a few minor connections. While you aren't working under the Fuhrer, I was hoping maybe you could help me here."

"Sir, how can I help? It looks like you have everything you can get from this stuff."

He nodded. "There's someone there, in Youswell, who is from Xing and has knowledge of Alkahestry. They've apparently done some pretty good work with it. I want to go and see what he knows."

"What does that mean for me?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm temporarily promoting you so you can get everything that needs done here in Central and no one suspects that the Philosophers Stone is missing."

Hawkeye blinked. "So you're going to travel all the way to the edge of the country alone?"

Mustang nodded. "It's the only way."

"No, it's not, you idiot," she snapped. "I'm coming with you, and you cannot tell me otherwise. You cannot travel alone. What if something happens to you? You are well known all around the country. If there's someone that wants to harm you, then it won't take much to do it, if you are on your own."

"I'll take a detail."

"With all due respect, sir, a detail would make you a better target."

He frowned. "So what do you suggest? I can't go alone, you won't let me take a detail, and you can't come with me."

Hawkeye put her hands on her hips. "And why not?"

Mustang took a deep breath and looked towards the floor. "Because I don't want you to get hurt. It will be foreign territory, so I won't be able to help you out of any alchemy centred situation."

She laughed. "I'm not helpless. Sure, I've gotten injured in the past, but I'm still capable of protecting myself."

"Well, how do you suppose that we not get attacked while travelling out of Central towards Youswell?"

"As we always have gotten away with things," Hawkeye smirked. "Through disguise, obviously."

Mustang laughed. "Oh yeah, Elizabeth?"

 **XXX**

Hawkeye and Mustang sat down in their train seats across from each other. They tried to disguise themselves as best that they could. To the both of them, they would always be Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang, but they hoped that it would be good enough for the rest of the world.

Hawkeye decided that cutting her hair was for the better good. Though, it was at a different length than she had ever had it before. Her hair now fell halfway down her neck. She donned her glasses and a dress because that was the last thing anyone would ever see her in.

Mustang really didn't look any different. He parted his hair the other way and wore a pair of sunglasses, like most blind people tended to do. He wore a travel outfit, similar to the rest of the men on the train.

"We should probably take this time to get our story straight," she said, quiet enough so that only he heard her.

"Right, Elizabeth," he replied. "Um, I guess my name with be Aden. So what is our relationship?"

Hawkeye shrugged. "I'm not sure. What do you suggest, sir?"

He pulled a ring out of his pocket. "I was thinking something like this. I figured it would be the most believable to a sort."

She blushed a dark red. "Married, sir?"

"Or engaged," he nodded and held the ring out a little further. "I thought an engagement would save us from having to figure some things out."

She nodded curtly and grabbed the ring. She slipped it on her finger and looked at it intently. It was weird wearing any jewellery, but it felt even weirder wearing an engagement ring. There was an even odder feeling in her stomach that the ring belonged to her General, General Roy Mustang.

"Where did you get the ring on such short notice, sir?" Hawkeye asked. "We only decided that we were leaving two days ago."

He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "It was one of the rings my foster mother gave me that belonged to my mother. In hopes that something like this would happen for real one day."

She nodded and looked around the train. "Okay, so we are an engaged couple. Named Aden and Elizabeth."

Mustang reached over and grabbed Hawkeye's hand. He pulled her over into his seat beside him. She yelped quietly and brushed her hair down. She looked over at the General hoping for some sort of explanation.

"We may as well start acting the part, while we work through things," he said as he intertwined his fingers in hers. "How did we meet?"

Hawkeye blushed fainter than she had before. How was he so comfortable with this?

"We both work for the same law firm. I was the secretary, and you were an apprentice with a lawyer. I thought you were cute when you came in your first day with no idea where to go. You asked me for dinner after you helped your master win your first case." Hawkeye looked up at him.

Mustang chuckled. "Dinner went awful, and I was too scared to talk to you the rest of my career there. Though, on my last day, I invited you to drinks and that went a lot better."

She smiled and began to relax with holding his hand and how she sat. "Remember how you asked me to marry you?"

He smiled as well. "It was right before I lost my sight. I lit a few dozen candles around the living room while you were sleeping on the couch. It was almost midnight when you woke up from your nap. I knelt down and-"

"All you got out was, 'Eliza, will you-' before I punched you across the face because you scared the living daylights out of me."

He looked over in her direction. "But after we iced my face for close to half an hour, you said yes."

Hawkeye took a deep breath. "You've always been an idiot, sir."

"You can't call me sir," Mustang corrected her. "We're engaged now. People might find that weird."

The train started to take off. There was no going back now that the train was already in motion. Now, all that was left to do was to enjoy the ride to Youswell. Hawkeye stared out of the window.

This was going to be a weird adventure.

The train had only been travelling for twenty minutes before Hawkeye fell asleep. She was still holding Mustang's hand, and she had moved over so her head was now lying on Mustang's shoulder.

Mustang moved his hand out of hers and put the arm around her shoulders, holding her closer. He suddenly was angry with himself for not taking Marcoh's offer sooner. Even though this whole thing was fake, he still wanted to be able to see her. He only wanted to see her, even if he saw nothing else.

He remembered what it felt like, losing his sight. He did not care initially because he just wanted to know if Riza was okay. He was in an unfamiliar environment and upset with himself. He never wanted her to get hurt in the midst of all of it. She was never supposed to be in danger.

His blindness what just a reminder of the pain that he had to see her go through. He remembered holding her in his arms briefly. It was a nice feeling to have her in his arms once again.

He was terrified that it was going to happen again. He was even more useless this time around. If Hawkeye was injured this time, he was not sure that there was any way that he could help her. He was blind. He had little to no knowledge of Alkahestry, and everything that he had done before was just sealing the wounds with heat. Could he trust himself to do that blind? He needed his sight back for her. He just wished that she did not get herself involved.

It was only his fault though. He made her promise years ago that she would follow him no matter what. That seemed like ages ago. Things were so different then. Things were even different before that. There was once a hope that there could be something between them similar to what they were faking now. That all seemed like such a dream.

After thinking about their past for nearly an hour, Mustang also slowly fell asleep. His head rested gently on top of Hawkeye's. They looked like an ordinary engaged couple.

There was a large bump in the train tracks. Hawkeye along with a few of the other passengers gasped loudly and looked out of the window. She was relieved when she just saw that the train had switched tracks and that was what caused the bump. She relaxed back in her seat and looked over at Mustang.

His head was leaning back, and his mouth was slightly open. He was dead asleep. His arm was lying on the seat in a weird position. Hawkeye deduced that it was around her while they were sleeping. She smiled and moved the hand into his lap.

This reminded her of the numerous times that he had fallen asleep at his desk doing whatever it was that he did before he would hurriedly sign his papers minutes before the deadline. He always had some trick up his sleeve, and she was always lucky enough to be one of the few to know it, which was why it was weird that he tried to keep her out of this mission.

She knew he still was not over what happened on the Promise Day. She was hardly over it herself. There was nothing like almost dying in someone's arms. Though, if it had to be anybody's arms, she was glad that it would have been Mustang's.

He had been there for her from the beginning. It only made sense that he would be there for her until the end.

Hawkeye's thoughts were interrupted when someone sat down in the seat across from them. The seat she originally sat in. She looked over at the elderly lady with a confused look.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" She asked politely.

The lady smiled. "My name is Lilith Manello. I felt the bump on the train and almost fell out of my seat." She laughed lightly. "I figured that I needed to find a new one, so that wouldn't happen again."

Hawkeye faintly smiled back. "Oh, I see. Well, you are welcome to the seat." She gestured to the bench.

Lilith nodded and took Hawkeye's hand. "Oh, this ring is so pretty. Aren't you a lucky girl? Is this the lucky man? You both are so cute together."

Hawkeye blushed a bright red. "Yes, ma'am. I definitely have to say that I'm the lucky one though. I don't know where I would be without him." The statement was not a lie.

"What are your names? I must tell my husband when I get home that I met a nice couple that reminds me so much of us when we were younger."

"You-you just met us, ma'am. What are you saying?"

She smiled widely and pulled a locket out of her pocket. She opened it and showed Hawkeye the picture inside. The picture showed a younger couple, similar in stature to Hawkeye and Mustang. She had short blonde hair and he had longer black hair. They looked happy.

"You see?"

Hawkeye nodded. "Yes." She leaned back in her chair and looked over at Mustang. "My name is Elizabeth, and this is my fiancé, Aden. We're headed to Youswell."

"Oh, my husband and I live in Youswell, you two must stay with us," Lilith said, almost too happy.

Hawkeye shook her head. "I couldn't trouble you with that. We don't even know how long we're going to be there. We're just visiting someone."

"Oh, nonsense." She took both of her hands in hers. "You must. It will be no trouble. You are welcome to stay with us as long as you like."

Hawkeye looked over at Mustang. "I'll talk about it to my fiancé when he wakes up. He's very particular with how he does things." She chuckled. "He's always been that way."

She smiled. "Yes, of course. He looks like one of those people. Most men do. There's not much we women really can do."

Hawkeye smirked and looked back at her. "Oh, there's a lot we can do. Even though I said that I didn't know where I'd be without him, I know where he'd be without me."

She laughed. "Of course, of course. Well, I guess I will leave you two be. Let me know what he says when he wakes up, dear."

She nodded. "Alright. See you later, ma'am."

The elderly lady stood up and left the booth. Hawkeye looked back over at Mustang and laughed softly. She raised a hand and gently flicked his nose, the way she always woke him up at his desk.

Mustang jumped and looked around. He took deep heaving breaths before setting his eyes on her.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?" He said through gritted teeth.

She chuckled. "I needed you up, so until I find a better and faster way…" She shrugged.

He smiled. "Yes, ma'am." He took a deep breath and rubbed his face. "Where are we?"

Hawkeye looked out of the window. "I'd say we're maybe an hour or so out from Youswell." She looked back over at him. "It's hard to tell. I was asleep for an undetermined amount of time."

Mustang nodded. "We were travelling for about an hour before I also fell asleep. It was nice sitting in the quiet for a bit." He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "Just me and my thoughts."

Hawkeye nodded and put a hand on his back. "Speaking of you and your thoughts, there was a lady who stopped by and said we could stay with her while we were in Youswell. She was very insistent."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She shrugged. "She sat down with me, and she went on and on about how we reminded her of her marriage." She leaned back against the window and propped her feet in his lap. "I said that I would talk it over with you, and we'd let her know."

He put one of his hands on her leg. "I mean, I'd rather not have to pay for our stay."

She nodded. "Right, sir."

"That was rather kind of them to offer room for some strangers," Mustang moved his hand down to the top of her foot. "I wonder why. There must be some kind of motive behind it."

Hawkeye watched him carefully. "We can refuse the offer if you are that freaked out over it."

He nodded. "Well, we have some time to think it over. Now, what to do with our free time?" He smirked and slipped her shoe off. He started tickling her foot.

She laughed and sat up straight. "Stop it!" She squirmed and closed her eyes. "That tickles! Stop!"

Mustang laughed as well and continued to tickle her foot before starting to also tickle her side. "What's wrong, Elizabeth?"

Hawkeye arched her back and laughed even harder. Her side was starting to cramp between laughing so hard and being tickled. "Sir, stop!" She squirmed around before she fell out of the seat.

The train braked roughly as she fell, causing Mustang to fall down as well. He landed on top of her. His face was in her chest. He did not need to see to know what happened. His face turned bright red.

She laughed and put her hand on his chest. She started to catch her breath. Hawkeye watched him and smiled. He chuckled and put a hand over hers.

"I told you to stop," she joked.

He shook his head. "I don't recall what you are talking about, Elizabeth," he teased. He paused before speaking again. "It's nice to hear you laugh, Captain."

Hawkeye's smile dropped, and she nodded. "Yes, sir."

Mustang could feel the atmosphere change. He looked up where he thought her face was. He took a deep breath and rubbed her hand.

"Hey, I think we should take up the offer," he said softly. "I think it will be good practice for us, in case we have to go anywhere else."

Hawkeye nodded and put her forehead against his. "Let's get you back into your seat."

 **XXX**

Hawkeye put their bags down next to their bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at Mustang. She turned her gaze over to the elderly couple at the door. She gave them a smile of gratitude.

The old lady smiled back and nodded before leaving the room. She closed the door behind her.

Hawkeye reached over and held Mustang's hand. She tugged on it gently. He nodded and sat down on the bed next to her. He took off his sunglasses and threw them across the room.

"I hate these damn things," he grumbled. "I swear I could feel them becoming one with the bridge of my nose." He pinched his nose. "I'm glad that we are off of that train though."

She chuckled and took her glasses off as well. "Yes, it's nice to sit on actual cushioning for once."

Hawkeye looked over at the couch that was beside the fireplace. She took a deep breath and stood up. She let go of Mustang's hand and nodded.

"I'll take the couch," she said solemnly. "It's been a long day. We need to get our rest for tomorrow. We have quite the adventure before us."

He frowned and took her hand again. "You are not taking the couch. What kind of gentleman would I be if I let you take the couch?"

Hawkeye laughed. "A good one, sir. Besides, I can see where the couch is, so I'll be taking it for tonight. We can argue about tomorrow night when that comes."

Mustang scowled. "I'll burn the couch before I let you sleep on it." He pulled her back down to the bed. "You didn't need to come with me; therefore, you get the bed."

She pulled her hand out of his. "General."

"Captain."

She sighed. "You take this side of the bed, and I'll take the other." She stood up. "I'm going to take a shower."

Hawkeye stood up and reached into her bag. She grabbed her night clothes before walking into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and locked it. She leaned against the door and took a deep breath.

Mustang kicked off his shoes as he heard the water start running. He took off his jacket and dropped it onto the floor. He loosened his tie before slipping it off and tossing it onto the jacket. He looked over at the general direction of the bathroom and sighed.

"When am I ever going to learn…?" He grumbled to himself. "Riza is a difficult one to work with."

He stood up and unbuckled his belt. He undid his pants and slipped them off as well. He unbuttoned the sleeves on his shirt and the few top buttons of his shirt. He ran his hands through his hair and ruffled his own hair.

Being blind and bored was the worst combination. Mustang sat back down on the bed and looked falsely around the room. He felt around for the pillows and moved them to a position that would be comfortable for him to sleep on. Then, he slid his arm over to see how large the bed was. It was large enough for two people. It was either a double or a queen, so it would not be awkward for them. Though, he figured Hawkeye would have said something if it was too small. He moved the sheets and got under them. He continued to sit up, so he could stay awake. He wanted to at least tell Hawkeye goodnight and give her another thank you before going to bed.

Hawkeye turned the shower off and took a deep breath. She reached out and grabbed the towel to put around her. She wrung the water out of her hair before putting it up in a towel. She walked over to the mirror and wiped the condensation off.

She looked at her reflection. Everything that happened on the Promise Day seemed like it was forever ago, but the events also seemed so recent. The scar that marked her shoulder and neck brought mixed emotions. It was a reminder of how easy it is to die, but it was also a reminder that not only did she always have Roy's back, but he also had hers. After all, what was a King without his Queen?

She smiled at the analogy. She learned about the analogy after the Promise Day when she and Mustang both had their debriefing about the events that had occurred. She remembered the look on Mustang's face when she talked about how Envy tried to disguise himself as Mustang in order to get to her. His look of shock came mostly from how she figured out it was not him. She did not really understand the look of shock, but, nonetheless, their whole debriefing experience was interesting.

Hawkeye took her hair out of the towel and put the towel up to dry. Then, she removed the towel from her body and put it up, too. She began to get dressed in the clothes she brought into the bathroom for her to sleep in. It was just a simple shirt and pants. She did not believe in night gowns.

She took a deep breath before opening the door and walking back out into the bedroom. She tossed her clothes next to her bag and walked over to the bed. She could feel Mustang's eyes on her, even if he couldn't actually see her.

She got under the covers and mimicked his position of sitting up. She took a large breath and sighed heavily.

"General-," "Captain-," they said at the same time.

Mustang cleared his throat. "Ladies first."

Hawkeye nodded and fixed a few of his hairs that were sticking up. "Thank you, for what happened on the Promise Day. I don't know if I could ever thank you enough."

The corner of his mouth twitched with a smile. "It was definitely an interesting day with everything that happened. I don't know why you are thanking me for saving your life, though, Captain. You were pretty adamant on me not saving you."

She shrugged. "But you did, and we are still here, so I guess it's about time I said something."

Mustang moved his hand along the sheet until he found hers. "It's not necessary. You would have done the same if the roles were reversed, I'm sure. And besides, it's not like I was actually the one that saved you nor did I do the transmutation voluntarily."

Hawkeye nodded slowly. "But why didn't you just let me go? There wouldn't have been a Promise Day to stop if you hadn't become the last sacrifice. Logically, you would have saved a lot more people, had you not done that."

He took a slow deep breath before answering, like he was choosing his words carefully. "Yes, Riza, I would have, but none of those people that would have been saved are you. None of them are my right hand. None of them are my best friend. None of them had my back. None of them helped me get to where I am today. None of them are you. Plus, there would have been the same result whether I let you go and the doctor lived or what actually happened." He paused. "I just couldn't stand to see you die."

Hawkeye looked up at him with shock and blushed. "Uh… um… General," she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Mustang was not sure when point A became point B or when they ever got to point F, but, honey, they got there. They had probably only ever been to point D before this moment, but, boy, was it a good point D. Though, point B, even as simple as it was, did not happen as often as he wished that it would because there was a law that said they shouldn't.

Her body fit right with his, almost like they were sculpted out of each other. His body was warm. Even through his shirt, she could feel his body heat. His lips were warm and wet against hers. The kisses were rushed and almost sloppy, but she did not care. She cared more that her shower was going to waste.

Her hands were clasped in his raven coloured hair. This kept her face close to his so there was no way she would separate herself from him. She slowly began to move her hips against his.

Mustang had a hand on her waist and a hand on the side of her neck that was not scarred. He held her as close to him as he could without hurting her. There was no one he would rather do this with than her. He knew it was only a matter of time until this happened, since he knew how he felt about her.

In the past, the only time anything affectionate happened between them was when alcohol was involved, or they had been alone for a substantially long amount of time. They shared a few pecks on the cheek during his apprenticeship, but it wasn't until after she had revealed the secret on her back to him that they shared their first real kiss.

They both were pretty popular with people of the opposite sex, but Mustang was the only one who ever took advantage of that. Hawkeye generally liked to keep to herself. She only had one actual boyfriend, but that did not end well. He had had plenty of girlfriends in his life, but he always played it off as if he had done more with them than he actually had.

Mustang was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Hawkeye unbuttoning his shirt. He moved the hand that was on her side down and under her shirt. Once his shirt was completely unbuttoned, he moved his hand higher up hers and onto her breast. He was not sure if he was shocked or not to figure out that she was not wearing a bra.

Hawkeye moaned as his hand touched her chest. She broke her lips away from his and started kissing his jaw. He moved his other hand from her neck to her lower back. She shuddered under his touch.

She kissed the edge of his jaw before kissing his earlobe. He pulled her closer, using the hand on her lower back. She gently took his earlobe between her teeth and tugged on it gently. He groaned and arched his back slightly, causing his hips to jolt up towards hers.

"Riza," he breathed. Her name danced on his tongue. He rarely got the chance to say her first name, but he enjoyed every second that he got to say it.

She kissed his earlobe and smiled. "Yes, Roy?" She traced her nose around the edge of his ear.

His breath hitched for merely a second before his hands found her cheeks, and he pressed his lips to hers roughly. She matched his pace of the kiss almost instantly, like this was a common occurrence between them. Her hands rushed to hurriedly push his shirt off of his shoulders and to toss it to the floor.

Hawkeye put her hands on his chest and gently dragged her nails against his skin, tracing the outline of his muscles. She leaned back a bit, knowing he'd follow her. Since he did, she wrapped her legs around his torso, causing her hips to press against his.

Mustang slipped his hands into her hair and held onto it tightly, like she was leaving him the next day and he did not want her to go. He also knew that this could be a once in a life time chance, so he needed to savour every second of it.

She pushed against his chest to separate herself from him for enough time to take her shirt off. She had been shirtless in front of him so many times that it almost felt like second nature, between him studying her back and burning it.

As much as Mustang wanted his lips back on hers, he wanted to appreciate her body. He had only seen the back of her before, other than the one accidental time he saw her in her bra.

Even though he had not done as much as everything thought he had with women, he had seen plenty of women and none of them were as beautiful as his Riza Hawkeye.

Mustang took a deep breath before kissing her neck roughly, sucking at the skin. His hand returned to her chest rather gently compared to the way he was kissing her neck. Her skin tasted sweet compared to the bitter air that surrounded them. He would give anything to be able to do this more.

Hawkeye melted under his touch. His hands were warm and left a trail of goose bumps wherever they touched. If only his hands could always be on her skin.

From there it somehow went from point B pretty much straight to point F. Mustang only was wearing one sock at this point. The other was lost in the sheets. Hawkeye wore nothing but sweat that made her body glisten underneath his.

Hawkeye's heavy breathing matched the pace that his hands were moving along her. She grasped the bed sheets as his warm breath touched her neck.

"Roy," she eventually said through her deep breaths. "Wait."

Mustang stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. "Yes, Riza?"

She kept her eyes closed and stammered, "I-I…"

Mustang woke with a start. He took heaving breaths and put a hand on his chest. He was back to his world of darkness. He glanced about, as if there was something that he could look for. When he caught his breath, he stood up, out of bed.

Mustang dragged his feet along the floor until he reached the wall on the other side of the room. He ran his hands along the wall until he found a door. He opened the door and stepped into the bathroom. He quickly closed the door behind him. He locked it and took a deep breath. He walked over to the shower and started it.

He found it hard to undress after the dream he just had. He was startled by the dream in multiple ways. He knew he had feelings for his partner and friend, but that was the first time he ever had a dream like that about her. He didn't know what startled him more: the fact that the dream was about her or how happy he was that the dream was about her.

He needed to be able to see her again. He always put up a strong front about his blindness because he had gotten used to doing his normal duties without it, but there was always the want to see again that made him weaker. No matter how strong he seemed to be, it was always just a façade.

Mustang stepped into the shower and let the warm water hit his body. He wished the water could wipe away the feelings he had about his dream. It was pointless, though. The dream would be stuck with him forever.

He sat down in the shower and leaned his head against the wall. He was a general. He was better than this. He had gone through a hell of a war, the death of his best friend, and the near end of the world. He was acting like a lost schoolboy. That was not the man that he was.

He shook his head and let the water from his hair run down his face. He took deep breaths. He needed to work up his strength before getting out and dealing with Hawkeye. He had feelings for her, but he had no idea if she returned them. She was his best friend and right hand man. He was not going to act on silly feelings and ruin that. He just needed to regain the wall that he usually kept up around her about his emotional feelings about her.

He stood back up and ran the water over his face again. He took a deep breath before remembering his dream. He smiled.

"Maybe one day," he said to himself.

 **XXX**

Hawkeye walked up to the door where the alkahestrist, Doctor Jiang, lived. She knocked on the door sharply three times before taking a quick step back. She looked over at Mustang briefly.

"You really think this guy has an idea about how to help you, sir?" She asked quizzically.

Mustang took a deep breath and nodded. "Either he has that, or he has an idea where the stone is."

She nodded and looked back at the door. The general was acting weird. He always acted weird, but this weirdness was on a whole new level. When she woke up, he was already up, and he would not talk to her at first. Then when he did, it was either an awkward tone or he was unusually angry towards her. He also was very jumpy whenever she tried to help him.

When the door opened, there was a tall, skinny brunette that stood in the door frame. Her dress was long but revealing. Most of it seemed to be made of lace and some see through material. She had a hand on her hip and a disgusted look on her face.

"Can I help you?" The brunette sneered.

Mustang cleared his throat. "Hello, we are looking for Doctor Jiang. We were hoping that he could help us with something."

The brunette straightened her posture and smirked. "Yes, right this way."

She left the doorway and walked down the dark hall that was behind her. Hawkeye looked hesitantly over at Mustang before tapping his arm.

"Straight ahead. There's a small step up," she sighed. "Let's go." She walked into the house and followed the girl down the hall. "I wish she would drop the attitude. She reminds me of Lust."

She heard Mustang stop walking behind her. "Don't mention Lust at a time like this. We're stepping away from all of that by doing this. By curing my blindness, we're putting all of that in the past."

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "I mean this in the nicest way, sir, but calm down." She turned and looked at him. "I want to forget all of it too. I want a fresh start as well. The events that happened still hold me back, as well."

Even though he could not see her, he was avoiding looking in her direction all together, which was strange. "Let's just see what the doctor has to say."

She nodded and turned back around. She continued down the hall and turned into the room where the brunette had. She snapped as Mustang walked near so he knew to turn. She was still unsure why he was acting strange, but that was a conversation for when they were alone and not around a stranger.

Yet, it was different.

Not a lot of time had passed during their conversation in the hall, but somehow, the girl had the time to change. She was now in a shorter black dress and a lab coat. Her hair was now pinned up with chopsticks. The only article of clothing that was the same was a necklace with a deep purple stone.

"Hello, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye," she giggled. "Sorry for the thing at the door. There are so many people that come here for some stupid things. I almost have to hire a doorman, but since I turn away so many people, I don't have the resources to do that." She pointed between the two of them. "But I knew who you were. Those disguises are okay, but I am the master of disguise, so I see right through it. Roy, you have the alchemical skills to make these disguises better. I am ashamed."

Mustang scowled. "I'm currently blind, so there's not much that I could have done without a chance of harming one of us."

"And I take it that's why you are here?"

He nodded. "I was wondering if you had knowledge of how to help me with my blindness or if you had any knowledge of Doctor Marcoh's work around here. Something that he's been working with has been stolen from him, and my captain and I have been working on tracking it down."

Doctor Jiang nodded. "I'm familiar with the work. Marcoh stayed with me while he was in town. He did a lot of his work in the next room. He definitely saved me some time and trouble. He talked a lot about what you do, Roy, and what your plans are. I'd definitely like to see some of your plans in motion."

Mustang smiled a bit. "Well, I'm glad to hear I have a supporter-"

"Have you any knowledge of what we asked you about?" Hawkeye interrupted. "If not, then we must be on our way. Amestris is a large country; there's a lot of work to be done."

Jiang returned her glance to Hawkeye. "Yes, I have knowledge." Her tone changed from happy to tense. "I was here when the stone was stolen. I only saw the back of the head of the person that took it. They kept their identity pretty well concealed."

She nodded. "Thank you. That's all we needed to know."

Jiang nodded. "As far as your eyes go, Roy," she sighed. "I don't exactly have a way that I can help. From what I have heard from Marcoh, you lost it in a way that regular alkahestry cannot solve."

"Which means we need the Philosophers Stone," Mustang finished her thought.

Jiang nodded. "Sorry, sweetheart."

Hawkeye put a hand on his arm, but he flinched and pulled away. "Sir, it's time to go if there's nothing here."

"But your eyes have cloudiness, which I could clear. Even give you a colour to help with your 'brilliant' disguise," Jiang continued.

Mustang glanced in the direction of her voice. "As great as that sounds, I think I'll stick with my cloudiness and dark eyes. I know they don't help with the disguise, but they are a part of me that makes me me, so I think I'll stick with it."

Hawkeye looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, sir?"

He glared at her and nodded. "Let's go."

He reached out for her hand and took a deep breath. She took his hand and led him out of the room and down the hall. As they walked to the door, his thumb gently rubbed her hand as if to try and calm her down or to reassure her that he was okay. She looked back at him and nodded.

"We'll find it," she whispered.

He nodded. "Can you bring us to somewhere private?"

Hawkeye nodded and looked around for an alleyway. The town was full of them, but there were just not any that would be considered private. When she found one, she turned down it and let go of his hands.

"What has been your problem all day today?" Hawkeye snapped. "You've been jumpy, rude, and ignorant more than usual."

He leaned against the side wall. "I know."

"That's all? 'I know?'"

He looked down at the ground so his hair covered his face. He took a deep breath. He held out a hand to her.

"I had a dream," he told her as she took his hand. "I don't want to go into detail about it, but that's why."

Hawkeye nodded. "Well, stop it. That's a stupid reason to be acting like this. I know you. This is dumb."

Mustang let her hand go. "I know."

"So what's the real reason you wouldn't accept Jiang's offer?" Hawkeye asked, putting a finger on his chest. "Because, even if it didn't help you see, it would have helped us further."

He shrugged. "I've always valued by dark eyes, clouded or not. Plus, I got a weird feeling once we stepped into the house, and I wanted to get out of there. I don't know why, but I didn't want to stay in there any longer."

She nodded slowly. "I see."

Mustang moved her finger off of his chest. "Now that I have you in the private setting, I can actually tell you what I needed to tell you."

She raised an eyebrow. "And what is that, si-"

He grabbed her shoulders and turned. He pressed her against the wall and put his forehead against hers. He could feel her nose grazing his.

"There's been someone following us since we left Jiang's house," Mustang whispered. "Just go with it."

Hawkeye giggled. "Aden, what do you think you're doing?"

He smiled and chuckled. "Well, Elizabeth, I think I'm doing a lot of things." He moved her hands down to her sides. "What do you see?" He questioned her in a whisper.

She turned her head and smiled. "I don't see anything."

He moved his nose in circles around the top of her ear. "Make sure to look in the shadows."

Hawkeye put a hand on his chest and rubbed gently. "Lift me higher and feel free to make this look more real to whoever decided to watch us."

Mustang grasped her hips and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and loosely had her arms around his neck and shoulders. He pressed a hesitant and gentle kiss to her collarbone. Between this and the dress she was wearing, she was almost uncomfortable.

After a few strange moments, there was a movement in the shadows. Hawkeye pushed Mustang away and jumped off of him. She ran over to where the movement was, but the movement moved again. The movement was tall and was running away.

She continued after the guy. Despite having a longer stride, Hawkeye was quicker. She caught up to the guy, even though she was wearing heels. It took her forever to be able to run in heels.

She lowered herself into a sliding motion and kicked the guy's feet out from under him. She stood back up quickly and pressed a knee against the guy's back. She pulled a gun out from under her dress and cocked it, pointing it at the guy's head.

"Who are you?" Hawkeye scowled.

The guy put his hands on the back of his head. "Captain! Don't shoot!"

She growled and stood back up. "What the hell, Alphonse!?" She put her gun back in its holster on her thigh. "I could have shot you, maybe even killed you!"

Alphonse rolled over and sat up. "Sorry, Riza."

Hawkeye turned around and began to walk back towards Mustang. "Walk and talk with me."

She heard his footsteps behind her before he was walking next to her. "What are you and the general doing here anyway?"

She sighed. "We're here to help find the stone. We are undercover though, so I'd appreciate you not blowing it."

"Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?" He teased.

Hawkeye hit his arm. "It's not like that, Alphonse. He's my superior. There are laws against that."

Alphonse laughed. "Just because there are laws saying that you can't act on feelings, doesn't mean that there aren't feelings."

She put a finger to her lips to silence him as they got closer to the alley that she left Mustang in. She turned down it and walked over to him. She put a hand gently on his shoulder.

"It was only Alphonse, doing what those Elrics like to do," Hawkeye explained. "I caught him up to what's going on."

She could feel his muscles tense up. "Ah, I see."

Mustang became really nervous over the information that Alphonse had been the one that had been following them. He saw them pretending to do whatever they were doing in this alleyway. Hopefully, Alphonse didn't take anything from it and spread rumours.

 **XXX**

Hawkeye leaned against the wall, while Alphonse and Mustang sat on the couch. She had changed out of her dress, but she still wore her heels and glasses in case their hosts walked into the room.

"So, you think the thief is still here in Youswell?" Alphonse asked. "Where would they keep something like that? I've already checked all of the mines and the houses of the big hotshots that live here."

Mustang nodded. "We figured here is at least a good place to start looking. Hopefully, we can find clues as to where we need to look next."

"And you guys decided the best disguise was to be an engaged couple?" Alphonse laughed. "That was probably one of the worst decisions to make."

Hawkeye shrugged. "Our usual getup is boyfriend and girlfriend," Hawkeye mumbled. "I don't know why this is such a big deal to you."

Alphonse chuckled. "Ditch the disguises. They weren't good anyway. Anyone who knows you will know it is you." He stood up. "Besides, you could have called, and I could have told you that there was nothing here. I was about to head to Xing because that's where the nearest clue lead me. There's an epidemic on the farthest city east in Xing, so there's good reason for someone wanting to steal the Philosophers Stone. May's already there, seeing if there is any suspicious activity to look at closer."

"If you and May are already looking there, then shouldn't we be looking elsewhere?" Mustang asked.

Alphonse nodded. "Sure. Though, since I know the two of you, if you are going to put on a disguise again, you should let me help."

Hawkeye chuckled and winked at Alphonse. "I'm sure you'd just love to see us engaged again, right?"

Alphonse laughed. Mustang's face turned a bright red. Easy how conversational cues create a tone of conversation.

Hawkeye cleared her throat. "How do you suppose that we disguise ourselves better?"

 **XXX**

Hawkeye and Mustang stood in front of the mirror. Even though he couldn't see himself, it helped her to see them next to each other.

Her bangs were held back by a purple headband. The real difference with this was that her hair was now brown and curly. Her glasses were taped on the nose piece and where the frame met the right ear piece. She wore a good bit of make-up, considering she never wore any unless it was a special occasion.

Mustang still had his dark, clouded eyes, per his request. His hair was no longer black, but it was still a dark shade of brown. Though, that was not the weirdest part of his disguise. On his upper lip, he had what strangely looked like a moustache. It was not a relatively normal moustache would be considered, but she guessed it suited his face.

"And you're sure that this will work, Alphonse?" Hawkeye asked. "I get my disguise, but I don't know so much about that moustache you have him sporting."

Mustang laughed. "I've always wanted a moustache. It represents power."

She shook her head. "Good luck getting me to kiss you, oh dear fiancé of mine."

He put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Is that a threat?"

Alphonse cleared his throat. "Yeah, I think it will work. You guys seem fine with the 'acting' part of it. It was just your looks that needed some work on."

Hawkeye looked over at Alphonse. "Thank you." She moved Mustang's arm off of her. "When do you leave for Xing?"

"Tomorrow morning on the first train," he said. "I'll call when I get any new information on the stone, don't worry."

She nodded and smiled. "Thanks. We'll reach you somehow if we find out anything here on our front."

He nodded. "Sweet." He grinned. "Well, I should get going. I need to get some sleep before I head out to the desert."

Hawkeye nodded. "Alright. Good luck Alphonse." She watched him as he walked over to her and picked her up in a hug. He always hugged them now that he could give real hugs. "We'll see you soon, Al. At least this isn't a world ending situation."

Alphonse put her down and smiled. "I know, which is so so so good." He winked at her. "Good luck with all of this, especially with your disguise."

He grabbed Mustang's hand and shook it. "Good luck to you too, General. I'm sure you guys are bound to have a lot of fun."

Hawkeye watched as he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. She fell down on the couch and kicked off her heels.

"How can girls do this day on and day off?" She groaned. "I hate heels. Why were they even created?"

Mustang smirked. "I don't know. I always appreciated a good girl in heels." He walked over until he reached the couch. He sat down on it as well. "Though, they do seem rather impractical."

She laid down with her head in his lap. He jumped a little bit before relaxing again. She smiled as he put a hand on the top of her head.

"Impractical like those tiny miniskirts?" She teased.

He looped his finger into one of her curls. "How much longer are you going to make fun of that? The end of the world changes a man. Now, I've changed to realise that miniskirts would not be a rational article of clothing to force my soldiers to wear."

She looked up at him. "Where are we going to next?"

He took a deep breath. "I was thinking Liore. They are a growing city after everything that has happened there since the whole mess with that priest."

"That makes one of them more likely to have taken the stone?" She took a deep breath. "They revolted because of a fake one. Why would they want the real deal?"

He shrugged. "It may just be a good place to hide until we just come to terms with the fact that it is gone."

Hawkeye reached up and touched his new moustache. "We'll never come to terms with the fact that it is gone just like I'll never come to terms with this monstrosity."

Mustang pushed her hand away. "Oh, come off it. It's only going to last as long as this mission does." He shook his head. "Find me the stone, and it'll be gone."

She nodded and then yawned. "I think it's time for bed."

"It's not even dinner time," he laughed. "How can you be tired?"

She covered her eyes with her arms. "You aren't the one that had to run off after someone with a longer stride than you, and you didn't have to run after them in heels."

He put his hand on her chin and tapped her lower lip with his thumb. "Well, sleep. I'll wake you up when it's appropriate to go out and get something to eat."

Hawkeye removed her arms from over her face and smiled softly. "Thanks," she said while yawning again. "You never did tell me what your dream was about."

He chuckled. "That's a story for another day, and maybe that day I'll tell you."

But she did not hear him. She had already fallen asleep. When Mustang heard her light snore, he smiled and closed his eyes as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Hawkeye smiled and laughed as Mustang lifted her up and spun around. When he set her down, she kissed his cheek. She played with one of her curls and smiled up at him lovingly.

The crowd around them cheered. They both were still unsure how they got roped into a couple's party. The people that sat across from them on the train had invited them, even though they were all complete strangers. Nobody here knew each other except for everyone's significant other.

One of the other couples came up and congratulated them on their engagement. Hawkeye considered it to be a strange feeling to be congratulated on a fake engagement, and she had no idea what it would be like to celebrate a real one. Though, she did like the idea of celebrating it with Mustang.

Mustang liked being able to hold Hawkeye this close, even though it was for fake purposes. He rubbed the small of her back as he kept her close. He could hear the roar of people laughing and having fun around them, but since he had no sight, it was hard for him to partake.

Hawkeye smiled and patted his chest. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" She asked him. "We haven't even made it to Liore yet, and we're getting roped into things."

He looked down at her and winked. "As long as we still have our plans in motion, I think we should still have a little bit of fun here and there. It's good for the both of us."

She nodded. "Agreed."

There were people everywhere that were shouting, laughing, smiling, and enjoying themselves. Hawkeye never got moments were she could enjoy herself. There was never a time where she had the chance to enjoy herself. Even if she had a moment of happiness or joy in her life, they never lasted very long. There was always something that got in the way of her happiness.

Hawkeye looked up at Mustang and took a deep breath. There was once a time where she thought he would be her happiness. Those thoughts still were around, but there was no chance that he returned them, and even if he did, they could never do anything about it. That thought was even more depressing.

But, hell, they were engaged now, and they should start acting like it.

"Kiss me," she said quickly.

Mustang gave her a confused look before nodding slowly. She put her hands on both of his cheeks and kissed him gently. He kept his arms around her but loosened up his grip on her. No matter how much they both tried to avoid it, they both enjoyed faking this way too much.

The only people blind towards their own feelings were themselves.

"Hey, hey, hey," a familiar voice said. "Slow down. You don't want to make everyone else jealous."

Both of their eyes widened and they took a step back from each other. Hawkeye looked over and saw none other than Jean Havoc. Of course he would be here. She hoped that he wouldn't recognise either of them.

Havoc looked like he always did, except there was a girl he had his arm around. He had a cocky grin on his face, like he usually did.

"Jean Havoc," he said as he stuck a hand out. "This is my lovely girlfriend Stacey."

Hawkeye bumped Mustang's arm so he would stick it out to shake his hand. "Aden Cross," he introduced. "This is my fiancée, Elizabeth."

Hawkeye smiled weakly and waved. "Hello."

Stacey took her hand and pulled her away from Mustang by a few feet as if to have a private conversation with her. She looked back at her fake fiancée to make sure he'd be okay to talk to Havoc on his own.

"Oh my gosh," Stacey said, saying each word separate from each other. "You and your fiancé are the cutest couple that I've seen in a long time, and I've seen me and Jean."

Hawkeye blushed. "Oh, thanks."

"Where are you guys from? Maybe if you're close, we can get lunch sometime." Stacey continued to swing their hands back and forth.

Hawkeye cleared her throat. "Aden and I are currently living in Resembool, but we want to move after the wedding."

She smiled. "Is it going to be a big wedding?"

She shrugged. "There's still a lot to discuss about the wedding. We've only been engaged for about a month and a half. Aden works so much that we hardly get time to sit down and plan it."

"Oh, well, I'm sure it will be beautiful." Stacey finally let go of her hands. "We were invited to this by my friends-"

"Jason and Marc," Havoc told Mustang.

He nodded. "We were invited by Shanna and Louis. We sat with them on the train here. We were on our way to Liore, but we thought that we deserved a chance to stop and enjoy ourselves."

Havoc nodded. "Yeah, man. Always take a chance to relax with the girlfriend. Why Liore anyway?" He cleared his throat. "It's still a small run down town."

Mustang sighed. "I have work there, and since I was going to be gone for a bit, Liz decided that she wanted to come with me."

"Well, that was sweet of her," Havoc said with a grin and punched his arm gently. "I hope one day me and my Stacey can be like that. You guys sound like you live a perfect life."

He nodded. "Yeah, sometimes. Most of the time. We've had a hard time getting to where we are now, so-"

"I appreciate every minute that I can get with him," Hawkeye sighed. "I really want to quit working, though, once we get married. I know we both want kids. I want them later, but he wants them right away."

Stacey nodded. "I don't want kids, but I don't know what Jean wants."

"Well, your relationship is relatively new, so I wouldn't rush into things," Hawkeye advised.

"It's a habit, sorry."

Hawkeye smiled. "Well, I think I should get back to my fiancé. I'm sure he needs me."

She walked back over the Mustang and slipped her hand into his. "Hi, sweetie. I'm back."

He kissed her temple. "I think it's time we should be going. We have work that needs to be done."

Hawkeye nodded. She gently tugged his hand and led him in a direction back towards the train station. It was only a five minute walk away from the venue that they were at, and that walk was worth getting away from Havoc.

She looked over at him once they exited the building. She dropped the hand and stopped walking. She let out a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall. The fresh air allowed her breathing to come easier. That was a close call.

"If Havoc had made us, then who knows who at that party would have come after you? After everything that has happened up to the Promise Day and after, you are a big target for some of the radical groups that really want to change the government. If something had happened because he screwed things up again…" Hawkeye took deep breaths.

Mustang put his hands on her shoulders to calm her. "I know. I was surprised to see him too. I mean, Havoc at a couple's party?" He laughed. "I love how protective you get over me."

Hawkeye looked up at him. "I said to Hell and back, didn't I?"

He smiled. "Yeah, you did."

The door to the building of the venue opened next to them, and Havoc and his girlfriend walked out. To avoid further questioning, Hawkeye grabbed Mustang and pulled him into a kiss. He returned the kiss without questioning, assuming there was a good reason for it. Even if there was not, he would always be okay with kissing her.

She separated her lips from his when Havoc was no longer in sight. She looked up at him and took a deep breath.

"Sorry," she whispered.

He shrugged. "Don't be."

"We should get going," Hawkeye told him. "The next train leaves soon."

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

As much as Mustang knew they needed to go, he really wanted to be able to stay and pretend to be the couple he wished they could be. He kept her against the wall for a few more seconds before stepping away and reaching his hand out to her. She took his hand.

He squeezed her hand gently as they started walking. They walked for a bit in silence before Hawkeye broke the silence.

"I'm surprised that Havoc didn't make us," she said. "I always thought that we weren't all that convincing of a couple."

"Why's that?" Mustang asked.

She shrugged. "We aren't a real couple, and I've not really had all that much success with relationships. We both know that you've done okay, but I feel like a lot of this relationship has been up to me and my social cues."

He laughed and used the hand he was holding to twirl her around. Then, he picked her up, with his arm under her knees and back.

"I think we're perfectly fine," he beamed. "Besides, I didn't even talk to the girlfriend, but I could tell that they aren't even actually together."

Hawkeye wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly. She hated being picked up off of the ground. It was not usually an issue that she dealt with often, so it never came up in conversation to tell anyone, even Mustang.

Thankfully, he put her down shortly after picking her up. She smiled up at him and patted his cheek.

"Let's get to the station."

 **XXX**

They had been on the train for almost half an hour, and they had both fallen asleep. That was until there was a huge uproar on their car. They both stood up from their chairs and looked around. Hawkeye pulled her gun from the holster on her thigh. She cocked it and walked out into the aisle.

She walked out to where the car went from booths to rows of seats with her gun in her hand. She left Mustang in the booth in case this was just a radical group member looking to kill him.

All of the passengers were pressed against the wall, trying to stay away from their attacker. In the centre aisle, there was a hooded figure with a glowing purple light emitting from their hand. The purple light grew and revealed a shot gun.

The stranger cocked the gun and took a shot. Hawkeye quickly rolled forward and dodged the shot. It was going to be hard for her to avoid a gun in such a small area. She raised her gun and shot at the person's leg.

The hooded stranger knelt down as they were hit in the leg. Blood started to pour onto the carpeted train floor. Another purple glow emerged, and the person stood up. Hawkeye stared at the person in shock.

"That's some strong alkahestry," she whispered. Then, she gasped. "The Philosopher's Stone," she quaked.

Hawkeye stood up and took another shot at the person. The bullet missed their head, but it knocked their hood off. The person was wearing a mask that covered their mouth and nose, but their eyes and hair were revealed. They had short brown hair and brown eyes.

Hawkeye raised her gun to shoot again. The person winked before ducking and putting their hand on the floor. A purple glow lit the car which revealed a hole in the floor of the train. They winked again before jumping down the hole.

She ran to the door at the end of the car and ran outside. She leaned over the railing to see if she could see the person running off in a direction that she could track. There was nothing to be seen on either side of the train other than country farms and dirt.

"Shit," she grumbled as she hit the railing.

Hawkeye put the gun back in the holster before climbing up the stairs that went to the top of the train car. She got her footing before standing up straight. She looked around before walking towards the next train car. As she continued to look around for clues of the hooded man, she jumped to the next train car. She took her gun back out again and continued onward.

Mustang kept a hand on the window and wished that he could see. If the door opened, then whoever stood there was not going to be happy. He had his hand ready to snap.

There was a large _thud_ against the window. He moved away from the window and frowned. He backed up against the door.

"What the hell?" He grumbled.

The door opened behind him and a hand pushed him away from the door. He fell onto his knees and immediately turned around. He went to snap his fingers, but the attacker grabbed his thumb and twisted it back.

"Stop," a harsh, female voice whispered. "Give up on your quest. There is no point to continue. You won't win. We are many and you are few. Ändern sie den pfad."

The girl let go of his thumb. Their footsteps seemed to fade. Mustang scowled and quickly stood up. He snapped his fingers and felt the heat from the flames in front of him. He sat back down in his seat and put his face in his hands.

He sat for a few moments in silence before he heard heels walking up to him. He felt a hand on his back. Silence still veiled over them for a while longer.

Hawkeye sat down and continued to rub his back. Parts of the door were sizzling, so she figured something must have happened here after she left. She kicked her heels off and sighed heavily.

Mustang lifted his face and glanced over at her. He shook his head.

"What are we getting ourselves into?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I think we can handle it. Even though the guy had the stone, he didn't seem to want to handle much combat."

He raised an eyebrow. "He? I definitely heard a she." He rubbed his chin. "I think we're dealing with one of those rogue groups that got lucky enough to get their hands on a Philosophers Stone. Ändern sie den pfad."

"What?" Hawkeye coughed. "What does that mean?

Mustang shrugged. "I don't know exactly, but I've heard files about some of the rogue groups that have slogans."

She nodded slowly. "I'll look into that once we get somewhere with a decent library."

He nodded and leaned his head against the wall. He yawned. He looked over at his fellow passenger.

"Hey, we still have roughly an hour until we get there," he murmured. "I'm going to go back to sleep. Let's hope that we don't see any more trouble on our journey."

Hawkeye stood up and closed the door. There were still pieces that were either sizzling or missing, but it was a better privacy than none. She sat back down on the seat and folded one leg up onto the seat.

"Well, I'll try and keep an eye open," she told him. "Sleep well."

She leaned against the wall and watched him. There was only so much that she could do now. She wished she had a newspaper or something that she could read.

She was shocked when Mustang leaned over and laid his head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and held him. The silence was different than the silence before. This silence was good; the air was filled with warm vibes. She felt Mustang's body relax as he finally drifted to sleep.

Hawkeye continued to hold him, but she started to play with his hair. It was one of the absent-minded things she did when she was bored. Though, it was usually Hayate that was in her lap, not her superior officer.

She took off the glasses she was wearing and tossed them next to her shoes. She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and sighed. She rested her head against his, pressing her lips to the top of his head.

This was a moment that she hoped could last a lot longer than it would.

 **XXX**

Hawkeye opened her eyes as the sun poked through the window. She groaned and covered her eyes with her pillow. She groaned and reached over to Mustang. She pushed his face in order to wake him up.

He smacked her hand away and grabbed her pillow and tore it off of her face. She grabbed his pillow and pulled it out from under his head. She rolled onto her stomach and planted her face in the pillow. She gently kicked his leg. One of them was going to get out of bed eventually.

Mustang laughed and sat up. The sheet fell off, revealing him to be shirtless. He rubbed his eyes and stretched. He heard his back pop as he stretched. Hawkeye looked up at him and chuckled.

"We've been here for two days, and nothing of notice has shown up," she sighed. "Can't we sleep in for one day?"

He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "I wish. I don't usually get to even sleep in on my days off."

She nodded and sat up as well. "Yeah, Hayate usually wakes me up at the break of dawn to go on a walk because of the schedule that I used to have when I was the Fuhrer's assistant and shortly after that"

"What are you doing with Hayate while we're gone?" Mustang asked.

Hawkeye sighed. "Feury."

He nodded. "I thought that he couldn't have any pets, which is why he gave Hayate to you in the first place?"

"He'll be okay. I cleared it over," she explained. "He doesn't know that though, so he thinks he's being sneaky and all by hiding him."

Mustang chuckled and rolled his wrists. He smiled and slipped out of bed. He reached over to his bag and grabbed clothes to put on. He could feel Hawkeye's gaze on him as he stood up to get dressed. Though, he secretly wished that it was the other way around.

Hawkeye pulled the sheets up around her as the temperature in the room seemed to drop. She continued to watch him change as she got comfortable in where she was sitting. She took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

"How does this look?" He asked as he finished buttoning his shirt. "I just want to know if everything that I grabbed matches."

She blinked as she was pulled out of her trance. She climbed over the bed and got out of it. She grabbed his shirt that he wore yesterday that slipped on, hoping to be warmer. She looked him over and shrugged.

"It looks fine, but your buttons are off," Hawkeye informed him. "I'll fix it for you. Don't stress yourself out."

Mustang scoffed. "I don't stress." He paused as she started unbuttoning his shirt. "Thank you, though."

She nodded. "Yeah, you put off everything for so long that you don't have time to stress over any of it."

He grabbed her hands, stopping her from undoing any more buttons. "I'd be careful Lieutenant. Guess who has the ability to hand all of that paperwork personally to your desk?"

"I'll hand all of that paperwork right back, _Colonel_ ," Hawkeye teased. "Can I have my hands back now, sir?"

He tapped her hands and put his hands back at his sides. He took a deep breath and looked around the room.

"If nothing comes up today, we can leave," Mustang said. "I promise. We'll head down a little further south where it won't be as chilly."

She laughed. "I don't mind the cold if it's where we need to be looking." She started buttoning his shirt again. "Even if this mission leads us to Briggs, then I'll be okay."

He ran his hand through his hair and chuckled. "That's not what I was talking about. I woke up almost five times with either your knee in my back or with you pressed right up against my back."

Hawkeye finished buttoning the top button and patted his chest. "Don't tell me you didn't like it," she joked. "Sorry, I'm not used to sharing a bed. I tend to knee people in my sleep when I do."

He patted the top of her head. "It's okay. It's cold at night. I'm a heater. I understand."

She ducked out from under his hand and chuckled. "I need to get dressed too."

"Need me to help you button your shirt, too?" Mustang said as he found his way back to the bed and sat down on the side.

She slipped the shirt of his that she had on off and tossed it at his face. "Button that," she retorted.

Hawkeye grabbed some clothes out of her bag and set them down on the bed. She shuddered as she stripped her tank-top off. She quickly tossed that down and slipped on her blouse. Then, she put her sweater on over it. She slipped off her shorts and put on her skirt. If only Mustang could see her now.

She sat down next to him and slipped on her knee high socks. She purposefully bumped his arm with her elbow.

"Excuse you, ma'am," Mustang laughed.

She stood up and ruffled his hair. "Come on, sweetie. We've got some ground to cover."

He stood up and rubbed his moustache, which he seemed to be proud of. He smiled. "Okay, honey."

 **XXX**

There were a few dozen screams as flames were propelled forward. People ran down alleys and out of the way of the flames, even if they were not any going their way.

"I said ten degrees left, not fifteen!" Hawkeye yelled at Mustang as she shot at one of the hooded people who had appeared in front of her. "Twenty degrees right!"

She ran forward at the person who dodged her shot. They did not appear to have weapons so she took the chance. The hood raised their hands and tried to throw a punch at her. She grabbed the arm and pulled it down, hooking her leg around the arm. This action brought the attacker down to the ground. She pressed her foot to the guy's chest to hold him down.

"Five right!" She shouted at him.

Hawkeye knelt down and tore off the hood and mask. The boy looked like he was barely over the age of twelve. He was blonde and had big, round, blue eyes. She was shocked. Was this resistance group resorting to kids?

A strong force knocked her off of the boy. She fell to the ground and looked up at the person who bumped her. The way the sun hit the person allowed for her to see their eyes. It was the same eyes as the person she saw on the train.

She quickly grabbed her gun and took a shot at the person. The bullet hit their hand, but there was a strange metallic sound that accompanied it. She stood up and backed away from the hooded person.

"Forty-five right!"

Mustang took the shot, having no idea if it hit the target. He could hear the people around him, but he could also hear the people in the distance either screaming or shouting slurs.

He heard more gunshots and hoped Hawkeye was alright. He snapped and felt the heat of the flames on his left. He took a deep breath and turned to where he heard the gunshots from.

Hawkeye knew the person standing in front of her was trained in alchemy, so she was surprised that they were not using it. She lowered her gun, knowing that it was not going to do anything to help her.

The rest of the hooded group had either left or were injured or dead, leaving them useless. There was just the one standing in front of her. The only one that had apparent skills in alchemy. The one that seemed pretty focused on Hawkeye at the moment.

"Ändern sie den pfad," they whispered loud enough for her to hear.

Hawkeye glanced over at Mustang before returning her gaze to the person in front of her. She raised her gun again quickly.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

The hooded person raised their gloved hand that did not have a whole in it and revealed a transmutation circle. The ground beneath Hawkeye's feet moved causing her to fall again. Their hand moved over in Mustang's direction, and the same thing happened to him.

"Riza!" He yelled out.

She looked over at him just in time to see him fall to the ground. She hated that he probably felt helpless right now. She looked back over at the person who had done this.

Yet, they were not there. Hawkeye slowly stood up. Her back was starting to ache from falling twice and being bumped around. She got her footing and looked around.

There were no traces of footsteps or anything that would show where the person had gone off to. Obviously, they had used alchemy to get away again.

"It means 'change the path,'" a voice behind her said. The person was standing on the roof of the building behind her. "We need to change the path."

Then, they ran and disappeared.

Hawkeye holstered her gun and released a breath she had no clue that she was holding. She walked over to Mustang and knelt on the ground behind him. She looked him over for cuts and bruises.

He rubbed the back of his head and coughed. He glanced at her, wishing he could see what condition she was in.

"Are you okay?" Mustang asked.

Hawkeye nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just knocked around a bit," she sighed. Her glasses had a large crack on the left lens. She took them off and watched him. "Are you okay? I'm sorry that I left your side. I kind of had to."

He shrugged. "I got a few without your help." He ran a hand through his hair. "Speaking of help, can you help me up?"

She took a deep breath before standing up. She took his hand and pulled him up. She dusted off his shirt and then patted his cheek.

Mustang took her hand and traced his thumb over it. "Are you sure that you're okay? I heard more than a few gunshots from your direction."

Hawkeye nodded. "Yeah, our friend has a hand made of automail. I had to take a few more shots to at least try to control the situation. Then, the ground moved. I fell. You fell. Here we are."

He pressed his lips together and nodded. He let go of her hand and rubbed his chin. He took a step back from her and sighed.

She put a hand on her back. "I really am okay. Don't worry. Let's get back to the hotel. I doubt that we'll see them again today."


	4. Chapter 4

Hawkeye clutched her chest as she breathed heavily. Her face was covered in sweat. Her whole body felt cold as if she had a fever. She was shaking uncontrollably from the cold that had taken over her body. Yet, it was not cold.

She weaved her fingers into her hair as she took heaving breaths. She could feel her own heart beating hard through her chest. Her body ached as if she had just fallen off of a tall building. Yet, she had only fallen out of bed.

Her cheeks were warm but the tears that were ruing down her face were cool. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. The cradling position she was in was the most effective position to self-medicate her attack.

Mustang woke up to the sound of wheezing breaths. He felt around the sheets for Hawkeye. When he did not feel her there next to him, he slipped over to her side of the bed. He moved down on the floor next to her and moved her so he was holding her.

He pressed his lips against the side of her head. He rocked her back and forth. He rubbed her back.

"It's okay," he whispered. "Take deep breaths."

Hawkeye hardly noticed that she was being held. All she was aware of was that her body now seemed really warm. Her breathing was still quick and heavy; she felt like there was no air left to breath.

She put a hand to her chest. Every breath that she took seemed to make her body ache more. The world around her seemed to be spiralling. She seemed to be spiralling downward.

Mustang noticed that her body seemed to be on the warm side. He continued to rock her back and forth as he put a hand to her forehead. She felt even warmer. Being up against him was not probably the best thing for her while she was having this panic attack.

He stood up, still holding her. He walked in the direction of the bathroom and held out a hand to find the doorknob. He walked in and over to the shower. He set her down on the shower floor.

"Breath with me, Riza," he said gently. "Ready? In and out."

Mustang took deep breaths, hoping that she would match his breathing- or at least attempt to. He put a hand on her leg and moved it back and forth with his breathing. Yet, she was still hyperventilating.

"Riza, I'm here," he told her. "We're in a hotel in Liore. We've been here for a week. I need you to match my breathing. Okay? In and out with me."

Her eyes finally met his, but there was still a sense of panic in them. She was still unaware of the fact that she had been moved. She could feel his hand on her leg, but, to her, it just felt like a pocket of heat on her thigh.

Mustang sighed and reached up, turning the water on. He made sure that the water was going to stay cooler. He did not care that he was about to be drenched in the cold water too. Cooling Hawkeye down was the only way that he had been able to successfully pull her out of her trance before while she was having these panic attacks, but usually all it took was a cool rag.

He continued to move his hand on her thigh as he took deep breaths. He started to shiver from the cold water. He ran his other hand through his hair to keep the wet, cold hair off of his face.

"Riza," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm here for you. I've always been here for you. I will always be here for you."

Hawkeye looked up at Mustang and then back down at his hand. Water splashed her face, getting in her eyes. She shook her head and moved so she was sitting on her legs, absentmindedly holding his hand down on her thigh.

She could not tell if she was crying or if the water running down her face was from the shower. She gripped his hand as her breathing started to slow down.

"I'm here, Riza," Mustang whispered. "It's okay. I'm here. You're here."

Hawkeye leaned over and laid down. She laid her head in his lap. He always was able to calm her down without being stupid with it. She was usually alone when she had her panic attacks, and she generally had no idea how long they lasted. There was a time or two that the only person around was Havoc or Breda. They mostly were from nightmares that she woke up from, but she had had few that just randomly happened.

Mustang ran his hands through her hair, trying to calm her more. He could still feel her body shaking, but that could have just been from the cold water. He reached up and turned the water off. He leaned against the wall of the shower.

She blinked heavily before looking up at him. His hair was spiking in multiple different directions. Water was still dripping down his chest, and she realised he was only in his boxers, which were soaking wet. She was not in much better clothing for a late night shower, but under the circumstances, they did not care.

Hawkeye took a deep breath and put a hand on Mustang's thigh. "Thank you," she whispered.

Mustang put a finger to his lips. "Don't worry about it," he said quietly. "This one seemed worse than the others. I want you to even your breathing before we talk about it."

She nodded. She laid her head back down on his lap and sighed. Even though her breathing was just a little sporadic, her heartbeat was still at a quicker pace than normal. She continued to try and take deep breaths.

He continued to rub her shoulder, wishing that he could do more for her. He had been there for her a few times, and he knew what not to do by now. He remembered that one time, when he went and visited her at her home, Havoc had beat him there, and she had started having an attack due to stress, and Havoc was shouting at her. He had never been madder at Havoc in his life.

Eventually, Hawkeye sat up and leaned against the wall. She used a hair tie that was on her wrist and put her wet hair back. She wiped her face off and looked back over at Mustang. She wiped the water off of his face as well.

"I thought I was back on that transmutation circle," she told him. "It was a nightmare that continued after I woke up. Sorry if I scared you."

He shrugged. "It's okay. As long as you're okay, then I'm okay. I'm more concerned than scared."

She nodded and stood up. She reached out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She draped the towel over his shoulders. Then, she grabbed another one and put it around herself. Her clothes were still dripping water.

Mustang stood up and used the towel to dry his hair. Then, he put the towel around his waist. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" He asked. "Do you need anything? Food? Water? A hug?"

Hawkeye smiled softly. "I'd like a hug."

She walked over to him and hugged him gently. She pressed her face into his chest and took a deep breath. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. She rubbed his back slowly, tracing circles on his back.

"Thank you, again," she said softly.

He nodded. "You always have my back, so every now and then, I have to have your back too."

She nodded and stayed quiet, holding onto him for a few minutes longer. She was not one for hugs usually, but his hugs were different. He gave really good, calming hugs. They helped especially with things like this.

"Are you ready to go back to bed?" Hawkeye asked him, slowly pulling away and putting her hands on his chest.

Mustang nodded. "Yeah. We have a train we have to catch tomorrow. At least one of us has to be up to wake the other."

"More like push the other out of the bed," she teased.

He smiled and gently kissed her forehead. "Come on. Bed time."

 **XXX**

Hawkeye played with Mustang's hair as she read the newspaper out loud that he was holding. There was nothing interesting to be read. Central had been relatively laid back ever since the largest revolting group had been taken down almost a year ago. There was nothing but paperwork and small crime to deal with.

She smiled as she thought about the possibility of holding him like this for real, not that this was not real. She rubbed his chest with her other hand. This was a nice feeling. She enjoyed this.

Mustang rubbed the sides of the newspaper that he was holding. He did not care about the news. He just liked being held like this, especially by Hawkeye. Hearing her voice was also a nice constant in this environment. He hated travelling, but he had to do it often with this job. Travelling with her made it only that much more bearable.

He had closed his eyes at least seven stories ago and had begun to drift off. The way Hawkeye was playing with his hair made him want to go to sleep more than the constant drone of the train.

Hawkeye stopped reading and leaned her head back against the window. The sky was dark and cloudy. There was a good chance that it was going to rain, and the dark clouds seemed to stretch out towards their new destination. New Optain.

"Can we just stay here?" Mustang asked. "I'm way too comfortable here to want to move."

She chuckled. "As much as I'd like that, these train seats are just not as comfortable as a bed in a hotel, or even a house." She patted his chest. "I'm sure you'll meet someone one day that's willing to sit on a train bench all day."

He laughed. "There's no one that will do that who is willing to settle down on one guy."

Hawkeye smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure you know all about who and who isn't willing to do a lot of things."

Mustang shook his head and laid his head back to look up at her. "I'm an angel. I don't know what you think I've done in my thirty-two years living, but it's been nothing but good things, honey."

She rested her chin on his shoulder. "Well, sweetie, I'm sure that you are truly a saint, _but_ I have happened to know you for a very long time. I know a lot of what you have done in those thirty-two years."

He whispered in her ear. "And just what have I done? I know that there are a lot of things that I have not done that are high up on my bucket list."

She blushed and smacked his chest. He laughed and put a hand on hers. She smiled and took a deep breath.

"It looks like it is going to rain," Hawkeye said quietly. "Let's hope New Optain has a hotel or something close to the train yard."

Mustang rubbed her hand gently. "What's something that's on your bucket list?"

She thought about it for a second and shrugged. "I think eventually I'd like to get married. I mean, kids aren't really a thing I want, but hey, marriage seems like a cool thing."

He laughed. "That's lame. I meant something fun."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe leave the country? I don't live a very fascinating life. I live by myself with a dog. I've had the same job for a while now. I have the same people in my life that I did five years ago. I don't have a lot of dreams and aspirations."

"I guess that's my fault."

Hawkeye shook her head. "No, it isn't. This was my choice. I don't regret it. I'd do it all over again if I had the chance. You don't need to feel like it's yours. Don't take what I said too seriously. I love my life and the people in it."

Mustang sat up, but he continued to hold one of her hands. "We love you too."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks." She took a deep breath and sat in silence. "Actually, I know what something on my bucket list is. One day, I'd like to just sit on the highest part of central, not in my uniform, and count the stars."

"Again, that's pretty lame," he chuckled. "But that's also pretty original, so I'll give you credit for that one."

She kissed his cheek. "Shut up. The only thing that's been on your bucket list for years is to become the Fuhrer. You have no right to talk about how lame some ideas are."

Mustang looked over at her. "Hey, don't be so dismissive. It's a good thing to have on a bucket list. You should definitely be more thoughtful. After all what's a king without his queen?"

"You really like those chess puns," Hawkeye joked. "I mean, I get why you're the king. I kind of get why I'm the queen. I'm your first line of defence. I protect you from more than I probably should need to. I'm the one that people don't generally go after, but the one that causes more damage, especially now that I'm helping you through this."

"It's simpler than that," he sighed. "You don't have to think that hard about it. You all have chess piece nicknames, but I don't know why you think that I'm the one obsessed with it. I wasn't ever going to mention it, but when Bradley brought it up, I couldn't deny it. You are the queen to my board because you are the one that I cannot sacrifice on my team, which is my one fatal flaw while playing chess."

She nodded slowly. "Simpler, but all of what I said is the reason for what you said." She smiled. "It's okay. Embrace the weird."

He chuckled and gently rubbed her hand. "I'm glad that you're the one that I'm stuck on this mission with instead of Havoc or Breda or even Falman."

Hawkeye ruffled his hair. "Yeah, yeah, yeah… There's no reason to get all sentimental." She patted his hand. "We're here."

Moments after she spoke, the brakes of the train sounded as it started to slow down. She glanced back out of the window. The clouds were even darker than they were before. It looked like only moments before the rain would start.

After the train stopped in the station, everyone got off and crowded the platform. The station at New Optain was a lot more busy and packed than either Hawkeye or Mustang expected it to be. There were people everywhere. Some already had umbrellas open and out like it was raining, even though the rain had not started.

Hawkeye got bumped by a few people, causing her hand to let go of Mustang's. She turned back around to find him, but all she saw was a whole bunch of umbrellas. She sighed and started looking around the crowd. She still had her bag with her things on her person. There were too many umbrellas for a day that was not raining.

She sighed and rubbed her face. She stopped moving so that she could maybe find him in the crowd.

 _Click._

There was the sound of a gun cocking behind her head. She paused and her body went stiff. She started to raise her hands above her head.

"You can deal with your boyfriend, or whoever he is, later," a familiar voice said. "We know that you're at fault for the attacks in Liore and on the train that was on the way there a little over a week ago."

Hawkeye took a deep breath. There was only one way that this was going to be resolved without completely ruining everything. She turned around slowly and looked at the person behind her.

"Hello, Elizabeth," Havoc said. "If that's even your real name."

She sighed. "Hello, you've caught me," she said sarcastically. "I was not the cause of the fight by the way. I was helping to stop it."

He laughed. "Yeah, right. We have eye witnesses saying that you attacked a young child and shot at him."

"Havoc, I need to tell you something, but I'm going to need you to put the gun down first. Also, we need to get out of this crowd since obviously it's filled with uniforms."

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't know if I can trust you."

"Fine. Keep the gun on me." She scowled. "But I do need to tell you something in private."

Havoc rolled his eyes and sighed. He grabbed her arm and put the gun up to her side. He started walking away from everyone that had the umbrella and into a small hallway that lead to nowhere.

"What do you need to tell me?"

Hawkeye quickly moved her arm and grabbed the gun. She then unloaded the gun, dropping all of the bullets on to the ground and dropping the gun down next to them. She put her hands on her hips.

"Havoc, you asshole," she hissed. "The general and I have been working on this case for almost two weeks, and if you blow it, I swear, I will hunt you down myself and make sure you never have a girlfriend as long as you live."

"What… Hawkeye-"

"No, listen up. There is a rogue group that has stolen something important, and we are trying to track it down. If you call attention that we are here, then they are going to want to kill Roy more." She pressed a finger to his chest. "They already don't like us because of the train. Then, they tracked us to Liore. We are trying to get to them before they get to us, and you are not helping by doing this.

"Now, let me get back to my fiancé, so I can do what I need to do before the rain starts. There's a lot riding on this. If it all goes down the drain because of a mistake that you made, then you are never going to hear the end of this." She sighed. "Don't tell Mustang that I told you this, and don't get in our way. Don't try to help. Don't try to convince me that you can. I want you to go back and tell Grunman that we are not the cause of any of these attacks and not to look into it any further."

Havoc smirked. "Fiancé. That's cute. How long after this mission that you are on do you think that you'll actually get engaged to the general?"

Hawkeye blushed and furrowed her brow. "Havoc, stop."

"I saw what was going on between you two at that party, even if you were in disguise. It's a whole lot easier to fake a relationship when there's already a relationship."

"I said stop," she whispered.

He smiled. "Oh, come on, Hawkeye. You know that the whole team is rooting for you two. We all want the frat laws to be taken away for you guys. Just admit it, Hawkeye. You and Mustang are-"

Hawkeye raised a fist and punched him square in the nose. "Call off your uniforms."

She started walked back down the short hall and back to where the crowd of people were. She took a few deep breaths. She should not have done that. Havoc was her friend, but she hated to have her buttons pushed, and he certainly liked to do that. She shook her head and continued to walk into the crowd.

 **XXX**

After Hawkeye explained the basics of what happened, they both sat in silence. She took a deep breath and put her face in her hands. She still felt like crap for punching Havoc in the face. Her hand had no visual bruising, but there was still some pain beneath the surface.

Mustang reached over and took her hand. She winced slightly and pulled her hand out of his.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, my hand is a little sore. I'm fine though."

"What did you do? Your hand was fine just an hour ago."

"I punched Havoc," she said quietly. "In the face… pretty hard. I wouldn't be surprised that I broke his nose."

He raised an eyebrow and stood up. "Why would you do that? What did he do to you that were that bad to where you would need to break his nose and almost break your hand?"

Hawkeye sighed. "It's not a big deal. It was just a personal issue that we were having."

Mustang gave her a look. "I know you, Captain. I know that you don't do things for no reason. And there is no reason that is so personal that it can stay between you and Havoc and not me. I am your superior officer. Any issue that the two of you have needs to be resolved anyway."

"Don't pull that superior officer crap on me," she scolded. "I'm allowed to have a little bit of a personal life you know. I need to have a few secrets in my life."

He laughed. "Whatever issue arose must have come up right after the conversation about what we're doing. I didn't want to tell you this because if figured that it would cloud your judgement with everything, but I guess that's what this has resorted to."

"What are you saying?"

"Grunman has known that this was going on from the start. Before you even offered to come with me. Obviously, I had to tell him that I was taking my captain with me. He was the one that told me what to do. He came up with our covers. I had no part in it. So I don't know what you punched Havoc over, but keep that in mind."

Hawkeye stood up and sighed. "Of course."

Mustang held his hands out to her. She took them slowly. He rubbed her hands, careful not to hurt the injured one.

"You'd think we were actually engaged with how we fight," he chuckled. "No wonder this was the cover that Grun-"

"Havoc thinks that the reason we are disguising so well as an engaged couple is because we are already so emotionally connected, and he wanted to start a bet to see how long it was after this over until we actually get engaged." Hawkeye took a deep breath. "The conversation was longer and there was more to it, but you get the point. You know Havoc."

Mustang chuckled softly. "Yes, I do know Havoc. He's a romantic. You can't take him seriously, especially now since he's in on this."

She nodded. "Yeah, I know."

There was another awkward silence between the two. They stood there holding each other's hands while they stood in the silence. The only sound was the sound of rain hitting the window outside.

Slowly, they both took small steps towards the wall. When her back hit the wall, she looked up at him. She let go of one of his hands and put it on his cheek. She rubbed his cheek gently.

Mustang smirked softly and shook his head. "Those damn fraternisation laws…"

He leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to hers. Hawkeye slowly moved her hand into his hair and held on to him. He let go of her other hand and put it on her side. He pressed her gently into the wall, keeping himself close to her.

She put both of her arms around his neck. She rubbed the back of his neck gently. After however many times they had kissed during their time undercover, it was still shocking her to every time that they did kiss. This was different though. This was more natural.

Mustang rubbed her side. He gently pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers. He smiled softly.

"You know, I can be a romantic, too," he said.

Hawkeye laughed and shook her head. "Oh, shut up."

She pressed her lips back to his with a little more eagerness than their previous kiss. She intertwined her fingers in his hair, really enjoying his body heat on this cold, rainy morning. He moved his hand down to her hip. Her shirt was raised slightly, so he could feel her skin on his fingertips.

He could feel the goose bumps on her hips as his thumb traced circles on her sides. He gently tightened his grip on her side. She moved onto the tips of her toes so that he wouldn't have to crane his neck as much.

Mustang used this opportunity to slip his hands down lower to her butt. He squeezed her butt gently. Hawkeye moved her hands down to his chest and rubbed his chest gently. She was tempted to unbutton his shirt, but she decided against it, knowing where that could lead.

"Riza," he got out in-between kisses.

She loosened his bolo tie. "I thought I told you to shut up."

He barely took his lips off hers as he smiled. "Yeah, I know. I just like saying your name."

"You say my name all of the time," she chuckled as she slipped his tie off of him. "What's so special now?"

Mustang moved his right hand down just enough to be able to pull her leg up so that his hand rested in the crook of her knee. "I never get to say your first name."

Hawkeye circled his nose with hers. "Well, since I told you to shut up, you shouldn't be saying anything," she teased.

He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine."

She smiled and grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him into another kiss. She held him close to her and enjoyed every moment of this that she could. She slowly let go of his shirt and put her hands on his cheeks.

With the way that they were positioned, Mustang's knee pressed against the inside of her thigh. Hawkeye looped the leg that he was holding around his other leg. They both fit together perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle.

He pulled away barely again. His lips were still touching hers, and he smiled at her. She smiled back and grazed her teeth against his bottom lip as if she was going to bite it. He smirked and pressed her roughly against the wall.

"Roy!" She gasped.

Mustang laughed softly and moved his hand up and down her thigh, rubbing her leg. "Yes, milady?"

Hawkeye rubbed his cheek gently and slowly. She looked his face over before settling on his eyes. A small smile grew on her face before it dropped.

"We shouldn't be doing this."

Mustang raised an eyebrow and licked his lips. The tone that she was using was starting to worry him. "What do you mean?"

"This can only last as long as we're on this mission," she told him. "There are laws against this. And as much as we want to do this, we would be awful at keeping it secret from everyone. Havoc would find out and blab to the rest of the team, who would blab to everyone else. It'd be a disaster."

He let go of her leg and nodded. "I know. I've thought about this for a long time."

"How long?" She asked as she moved her hands off of his cheeks and down to his chest.

"Since I recognised you in Ishbal all those years ago," he replied with a sigh. "I was surprised to see you but also happy. Because just in case I died in combat, I would have been able to at least see you one last time. Then, when I didn't die, I was even happier to have you, but also, I knew that any residual feelings that I had from before would not be able to be acted upon." He took a deep breath. "From there, I was starting to think of ways that I could act on it, but the longer that I worked with you, the more I knew that you weren't going to want to leave the military. Keep in mind, this is all still while in Ishbal. When you had me burn your back, I knew that I was too far in my own feelings to go back, so to keep my mind busy, I kept thinking of ways to either 'woo' you and how to get away with this without anyone finding out." He took a step back from her. "The more time went by, the more I realised that none of my theories would ever work."

Hawkeye looked down at her feet in silence before glancing back up at him. "Dammit, General." She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Why does your answer have to be so romantic?"

He chuckled. "Because just like everything I just said, I'm hopeless."


	5. Chapter 5

**I APOLOGISE for this chapter being so late. I was, first off, on a cruise with no internet whatsoever, so I couldn't get it out. Secondly, I was expecting to have a lot of time to work on writing the chapter and maybe others, but then, there was always something to do, and I also got really sick, so any free time I had, I spent sleeping. BUT here it is!**

"He may be the love of my life, but that doesn't mean he's the smartest person in Amestris," Hawkeye laughed. "We've been engaged for nearly two months and nothing of the wedding is planned."

"Do you at least know where you want it?" The girl across from her asked before taking a sip of whatever alcoholic drink that she had procured. "I know that's all I had for three weeks before I sat Chad down to be able to work out some kinks."

She nodded and moved the small mixing straw around her gin and tonic. "We both work so much that it's been hard to just sit down and do that. Our law firms are finally starting to rival now that his company's last rival went out of business. And if I quit, that won't solve that." She sighed. "I want to have the wedding in Dublith, but I don't know if Aden will agree."

"Well, look, Elizabeth," she pointed a finger at her. "Sit him down. Have a talk. Maybe do it right after you shower and are going to bed, and you'll get whatever you want." She giggled and winked.

Hawkeye looked back at Mustang who looked like he was in the process of getting more drinks at the bar. "Yeah, I'm sure that'll work, Jade."

Jade drank the rest of whatever fruity drink she had and nodded. "You guys are cute. I'm sure you'll work it out. Besides, Dublith is a great choice. That was Chad and I's second option."

Where was Mustang? It was his idea to go to a bar as a way to get over how they awkwardly left things when they got to New Optain earlier today. It was also his idea to start talking to this couple, who turned out to be the most annoying couple that she had ever met.

"Are you listening to me, Elizabeth?" Jade's shrill voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

Hawkeye nodded. "Yeah, use my body so I can get what I want. I get it."

Jade gave her a look of annoyance. "I said it in a nicer way than that."

"Yeah, I know. I just think it's kind of stupid because our relationship is better than that," she sighed. "No offence."

Mustang twirled his glass around as he waited for the bartender to bring him another drink for himself and Hawkeye. The husband of the couple that bombarded him at the bar earlier was still standing up at the bar with him. He stopped paying attention to what he was saying once he crossed the line of doing some risqué activity together with the girls. He was really only counting on the guy to get him back to the table once the drinks were made.

All of the sudden he was jolted forward with a hand to the back. He regained his footing and took a deep breath.

"Jade really would appreciate it if you would think about it," Chad laughed.

The bartender walked up and put the two glasses on the counter. This time he got scotch because he knew they would both want something a little stronger so they could deal with Chad and Jade.

Mustang shook his head. "I think I'm okay." He sighed as Chad put a hand on his arm to lead him back to the table. "Really. Liz and I are not that kind of couple."

"Aw, c'mon, man," Chad pleaded. "You cannot keep that fine piece of ass to yourself."

Mustang took a deep breath and stopped walking. "Yes, I can, actually. That's why I proposed to her because I want her to be mine and mine alone for the rest of my life."

Chad laughed. "Hey, I only said to think about it."

Mustang walked towards Hawkeye's voice. "Well, I'm done thinking about it."

He took a deep breath and followed the sound of Elizabeth's voice back to their table. He set their drinks down and rubbed her back. He put his arm around her very protectively. Even though they were not actually engaged, he sure as hell was not going to let anything happen to her. She was the best thing that has ever happened to him.

"Hey, sweetie," Hawkeye's tone sounded very forced, almost like she did not want to be there either. "Thank you for getting me another drink."

She put her arm around his waist, slipping her hand into his back pocket. She took a large sip of her drink and looked up at him. There was not enough liquor in the world that could make this couple more bearable.

Mustang also took a large sip of his drink. He nodded and rubbed her shoulder. "No problem, honey." He moved closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Let's finish these drinks and get the hell out of here."

Hawkeye nodded and downed the rest of her drink and his. "Okay, let's go."

She stood up from her chair and took his hand in hers. He squeezed her hand to reassure her that it was time to go. She, then, started heading for the door.

That was until she heard a gun cock behind her head. She slowly let go of Mustang's hand. She took a deep breath and wished she had not decided to finish his drink as well as hers.

"I knew your face looked familiar, _Chad_ ," she laughed. "It was you on the train, right?"

Chad walked around to the front of her. "No, actually, that was my sister, but I'm glad to know you remember things pretty well. That's definitely an attribute that will come in handy later down the line, _Elizabeth._ " He laughed and kept the gun pointed at her face. "I'm going to need the two of you to come with us, by the way."

Mustang snorted. "Fat chance." He raised his hand, ready to snap.

Then, Jade pulled his hand back and handcuffed it to his other hand. She moved to his side and whispered in his ear. "Wouldn't want to hurt any innocents, right, _Aden_?"

Hawkeye gritted her teeth. "What is the point of all of this any way? What do you guys have the right to gain by hurting people? What are you trying to change?"

"We have seen how a Fuhrer runs things," Chad stated. "We know how a kingdom like Xing runs. There will always be war waiting on the other side. We need to put a stop to war everywhere. Peace is the answer."

"You want to achieve peace by creating chaos?" Mustang questioned. "I can guarantee you that there will not be any more unnecessary wars now that Bradley is gone. We are already at peace again with the Ishbalans."

Jade scoffed. "But you aren't listening to the people. Your people killed the Red Gang without even listening to what they wanted. They wanted democracy."

Hawkeye put her right hand on her thigh. "I did listen to them. I was the one that caught their leader. They didn't want democracy. They wanted anarchy. There's no peace in that."

She quickly pulled out her gun and cocked it, shooting Chad in the shoulder. She turned and pointed her gun at Jade. She pressed the barrel of the gun to her side.

"Let us go," she hissed.

The sound of about seven more guns cocked behind her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before dropping her gun to the ground. Jade had a sly smirk on her face.

Then, there was the sound of another gunshot, but Hawkeye felt no pain after it.

Mustang cried out as the bullet landed in his side. He fell to his knees, severely wishing that his hands were not cuffed so that he could put pressure on the bullet wound- or at least burn it to heal the spot, like he had before.

Hawkeye knelt down quickly and pressed against his wound. She looked over at Jade and scowled.

"If you want to talk, then we can talk," she said. "We're the people that you have to talk to anyway."

Jade laughed. "Oh, we know, Captain Hawkeye." She picked up the gun that the captain had thrown down. "But we'll talk to you later on our own terms."

Then, everything went black.

 **XXX**

Mustang shook his head as he regained consciousness. He could hear water moving to his right. It did not sound any larger than a stream. He took a deep breath, hoping to locate where he was. There was a slight dirt taste in the air.

He rubbed his face with his hands. It took him a moment before he noticed that his hands were no longer cuffed or that his side no longer hurt. He took a deep breath before looking around. He stretched his arms out to feel around for anything, but more specifically Hawkeye.

The last thing he remembered was hearing a large _thud_ before feeling Hawkeye land on his lap. Then, he was shortly distracted from the pain in his side when there was a blunted object struck against the back of his head.

Mustang paused when he heard a heavy breath from the other side of the room. He moved back into his corner and raised his hand slightly. Even if he could not see, he could still hear.

"Relax, General Mustang," a rich, female voice sighed from the corner. The voice almost reminded him of Lust. "You won't find your precious Captain in here. She's a little… preoccupied."

He scowled. "Where is she? What do you mean by preoccupied?" He clenched his fists at his sides. "What are we here for any way?"

"I said relax," she spat. "She's breathing and that's all you need to concern yourself with. As for you, you are the reason that we have brought you here. We all know about your self-proclaimed path to be the next Fuhrer." She started walking towards him. "Imagine how the country will react when they see their precious hope was kidnapped. Their pride and joy of a leader is, oh, so weak."

"I'm not weak," he said through gritted teeth.

She laughed. "Oh yeah? You don't even know where I am." Her voice started to echo along with her footprints. "You've needed your Captain's help since you left the hospital after that dreary day."

"I've done well on my own."

"If that were true, then you would not have come here with her," she sighed. "Also, you wouldn't have let her fight all of the fights. Her face would not be the one that all of our ranks look for. You would not have let her be in such danger."

He unclenched his fists. "I didn't ask her to do any of this. I would have had my whole team if I didn't have to worry about people like you trying to kill me."

"People like me," she murmured. "What do you know about people like me? People like me grew up hiding. People like me only knew what it was like to run away. People like me only know what it's like to have the blame on them. People like me didn't have it as bad as the Ishbalans, but that's only because people like you acted like people like me didn't exist. Now that they are no longer the issue, you all have looked for a new group to hate."

Mustang rolled his eyes. "I get it. You were oppressed. You're angry. We're trying to fix that. Why are you trying to hurt us now?"

"I forget you can't see where we are!" She shouted. Her voice echoed off of every wall. "We are still in the underground!"

He stepped away from the wall. "I'm sorry that you feel this way, but I promise that we're trying to help."

"And I promise that we're trying to help you, General."

There was a faint echo of a scream that bounced around the room. It was shortly followed by a louder yell. There was only one person that it belonged to.

"Riza!" He shouted out. "What are you doing to her!?"

When there was no response, he snapped angrily in the direction he thought he heard the voice originally come from. Flames erupted and filled the room with bright red and orange light. There was no one in the room with him.

His outburst caused the single torch on the opposite wall to light. He could feel a bit of the heat from the torch, letting him know that the room was smaller than he originally thought that it was.

Mustang put his hand against the wall. He could feel the cold brick against his fingertips. He walked along the wall until he reached the corner. The next wall was completely made out of dirt. He pressed against the wall until he fell into a hole in the wall.

He stumbled and followed the wall. He seemed to have found a hallway, but he wished that he could see where he was going. Maybe that voice was right. Maybe he really was weak.

He thought about all of the times that Hawkeye had helped him since he had gained his disability. His first month, he practically lived her whole life right next to her. She even had to feed him because he could not stop getting food over all of his clothes.

She was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She was there for him ever since he was her father's apprentice. She's helped him at every low that he has ever been at, and he tried to be there for her at every low she had.

He was pathetic.

 **XXX**

Hawkeye woke up in a dark room. She blinked a few times before her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The room she was in had cement walls and a dirt floor. There was a door that was cracked open on the wall opposite from her. She slowly stood up and started to walk towards the door.

There was a _twang_ of chains and she fell to the floor. She looked down at her right ankle to see a cuff around it. There was a chain that connected the cuff to the wall, and it was not a long chain. She rubbed her ankle and sighed.

She could see a faint light coming from outside the door. She stood back up and looked down at her foot. Her shoe had been taken off. Maybe she could slip her foot out of the cuff.

Hawkeye heard a few voices coming from outside her door. They did not sound close to her door, but there was no way to tell how far they were, judging on how shadows danced on the shadow walls.

She pulled on her ankle, hoping to slide it out of the cuff. It caught on her heel and the top of her foot and wouldn't budge. She pulled a little harder, but the way the cuff was positioned, it started to dislocate her ankle. She hissed and yelped.

Hawkeye continued to pull her ankle out, dislocating it and falling on the ground. She bit her shoulder as she grabbed her foot and put it back in place. She leaned her head back as she cried out in pain.

She shivered as she rolled her ankle. Apart from her change of location and the missing shoes, she was in the exact same outfit that she was wearing in the bar. She stood up and started to walk towards the door.

Her foot ached a little as she walked, but the pain slowly ebbed away. She stood in the doorway and looked around the halls. There was nobody to be seen in either direction. For such a tough group, they sure were lacking with security with people that they would want to keep a better eye on.

Hawkeye put her hand on the wall as she walked down the hall. There were no more voices to follow, but the lights only went down the hall one way. She knew that it was probably leading her into a trap, but at least then, there were people she could deal with in some sort of way.

She looked down a hall as she passed it. There was some light coming from the end of the dark hall. She squinted, trying to see if there was anything in that direction. She couldn't see anything, but she figured that that would be a good direction to go in.

She took a deep breath and had her hand follow the wall as she led herself more and more into the darkness. She stumbled over a dip in the floor but shortly regained her footing. She continued to walk down the hall.

 **XXX**

Mustang heard something in front of him. He moved his hands away from the wall and stood up straighter.

"Who's there?" He asked out.

"Roy?" He heard in return.

He smiled when he heard Hawkeye speak out. He walked closer to her and put his arms around her. It seemed like forever ago that he had heard her cry out. He was worried that something terrible had happened to her.

She took a deep breath and pressed her face into his chest. He still smelt like the liquor from the bar, but it was a familiar smell that she was okay with. She took a moment before looking up at him.

"Are you okay?" Hawkeye asked him.

Mustang nodded and put his hands on her cheeks. "Yeah, I'm fine. How are you doing? I heard you cry out earlier."

"Don't worry about me," she whispered. "That was nothing. I did it to myself."

He took a deep breath and kissed her forehead. "Okay. I'm glad that you are okay."

Suddenly, all of the lights in the halls around them went out. Hawkeye quickly looked around. She moved back from Mustang slightly.

"It's dark in here," she said. "What happened to the lights?"

He shrugged. "Welcome to my world."

She put her hands in his and sighed. "Sorry." She took a deep breath. "Let's try and find a way out of here."

Mustang took the lead and used his hand to follow the hall. He figured since the hall was completely dark, then he was the one that should be leading since his senses were already heightened to the darkness.

There were no sounds but their footsteps that were echoing throughout the halls. He kept a careful ear out to figure out if there were anyone else's footsteps accompanying theirs.

Hawkeye stayed close to him, feeling almost a little vulnerable since she was wearing a tank-top and a skirt and had no shoes or a weapon. Almost.

Once her eyes started to get used to the darkness again, she started to ease off of Mustang's side. She tried to see what was around them, but everything just looked like a long, dark dirt hall.

Mustang stopped when his hand hit a wall- that was not made of dirt. His fingers made out the texture of bricks. He felt along the wall in front of him until he felt metal. It felt like a door.

Hawkeye put her hand on the door. Hopefully, this door was their way out of here. She slid her hand down to the handle and went to open it.

"Wait," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What if this leads us just down a path of pain? Or just isn't really a way out of here?"

She shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." She turned the handle. "Relax, General. If something bad happens, then we'll deal with it. We're pretty talented with dealing with pretty bad situations."

He nodded. "You're right."

Hawkeye pulled open the door and was blinded by the light behind it. She put her arm in front of her eyes until they adjusted to how bright the lights were. She could not even imagine what it was going to be like for Mustang to get his sights back.

She grabbed his hand and led him through the door. Sadly, daylight was not the source of the light. She walked into the room and looked around at the place they had reached.

There was medical equipment all over the room. Scalpels and magnifying glasses and other silver shiny objects lined the walls. It was almost terrifying to find. Were they planning on using something like this on them?

They both took a deep breath. How were they going to find a way out of this mess?

 **Sorry this chapter is shorter. I'm having some severe writers block. I'll have way too much time on my hands to work on the next chapter this week, so look forward to it.**


	6. Chapter 6

Hawkeye wished they could go back to the good old days. She remembered one night shortly after Mustang had become an apprentice with her father. She remembered walking out of her room late that night to go grab a glass of water.

She was so innocent then. Everything was calm and orderly for the most part. She had no dream of entering the military at that point and time. If only the younger Hawkeye could see her now. Everything had changed.

She remembered walking into the kitchen and seeing someone sitting on her kitchen counter. She had met Mustang only for a few seconds at a time, and she had not realised that he would still be at her house this late at night. She especially did not expect him to be sitting on her kitchen counter.

She walked passed him and opened up the cabinet that had their water glasses in it. She grabbed a glass and turned to look at him. He looked tired. His eyes had dark circles around them, and he could barely manage to keep eye contact with her.

She put the glass down and sat on the counter across from him, studying him. He had a plain grey button down on that was slightly unbuttoned at the top. He had a pair of black slacks on. Nothing out of the ordinary for a guy like Roy Mustang.

After analysing him, she realised what she was wearing. She was wearing a short nightgown with a pair of short, comfortable shorts underneath it. No man other than her father had seen her in her night clothes before, so it was rather awkward for her.

She remembered taking a deep breath, wanting him to start the conversation. When he did not say anything, she remembered sighing even heavier and adding a dramatic noise to it. When he still acted as if she had not walked into the room, she remembered crossing her arms over her chest.

"What are you doing, Roy?" She asked him, finally giving in to saying something first. "You look like you're practically dead."

He slowly looked up at her, meeting her eyes and nodded. "I am."

She gave him a look for him to explain, but he looked like he was not in the mood to talk. She got off of the counter and grabbed the glass before walking over to the sink and filling it up with water.

"Father says you're doing rather well," she looked over at him. "Better than he expected."

She walked back over to him and handed him the glass of water. He took it from her and nodded his thanks before chugging the whole glass. She sat up on the counter beside him and took a deep breath.

There was another bout of silence that rolled over the two of them. She barely knew him and had no idea what kind of conversation to start. He seemed like a nice guy, but she did not know if this was the time to start a conversation to get into the details of their lives.

After what seemed for a lifetime, he slipped off of the counter and reached his hand over to her. She hesitated before taking it and hopping off of the counter. She looked up at him before crossing her arms over her chest.

"Will you join me on a walk around the property?" He asked quietly and solemnly. "I need some fresh air to clear my mind. There's no way that I'll be able to get to sleep if I don't." His laugh sounded forced.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I can do that. I need to put something more appropriate on for a walk though."

Hawkeye could not remember his specific response, but she knew it was something along the lines of, "Go ahead, I'll meet you at the back door."

She remembered going back to her room and not knowing what to wear. She walked to her closet and took off her night clothes. She grabbed one of her more comfortable long skirts and put it on. She, then, took a sweater and put that on as well. She slipped her boots on before leaving her room and walking to the back door.

He was waiting there with a jacket and a scarf around his neck. He looked more awake and lively, but his eyes were still dark and grim. He smiled when he saw her though.

Hawkeye could not remember if she returned the smile, but she remembered taking his arm and walking outside. The air was chilly, but her sweater helped her stay warm in this winter weather. She was also surprised at how warm he was. It definitely made it easier for her to keep warm.

She watched him as they started to walk around the end of the property. He seemed like a nice but stoic guy; he just seemed really exhausted from whatever her father was having him do.

"How has your day been?" He asked her. "I haven't seen you since breakfast to ask."

She ran her free hand through her short blonde hair and shrugged. "Yeah, I've been kind of busy with my own studies, but my day has been relatively good. What about you, Mister Mustang?"

He stopped her and frowned. "Please, call me Roy. That sounds awkward for you to say." After she nodded, he continued walking. "My day was alright. As you can imagine, it was a lot of work, but your father definitely knows what he is doing."

She laughed. "Yeah, he's pretty smart. I never understand half of the things that he rambles about. Alchemy looks really complicated. His research is very complex."

He nodded. "I've seen so much of it, but I'm pretty sure that I've only seen just a tiny portion of it. I can't even imagine what he hasn't told me about."

She nodded. "His collection of journals date back to before my birth. I'd be surprised if I've even laid my eyes on all of it."

"Enough about what I've been spending all day doing, I want to hear about you." He put his hand over hers. "We will probably be spending a great deal of time together, and I would hate to stay strangers."

She remembered not knowing what to say to him at first and stammering over her words. "I-I, um… I'm not quite sure what you want to know about me. I'm not really like my father at all."

He shrugged. "Any place to start is a place to start. Even if you only tell me your wish in life, I'll accept that."

She pursed her lips and nodded curtly. "Well then, there's a place to start, I guess." She cleared her throat. "I'm not sure what I want to do with my life. I've always been very indecisive, even when it's come down to what book I read to help me sleep at night."

"You read to help you sleep?"

"Only when I already have trouble sleeping to begin with," she explained. "Which is more often than I wish it was."

He smiled. "I suppose that's a better way to solve your issue than others."

"What do you do when you have trouble sleeping?"

Hawkeye remembered his weird gesture that he gave to the area around them. "I walk."

She chuckled and looked up at him. "Walking is calming, but it always causes me to think, which never makes me want to sleep."

He laughed, tossing his head back as he did and stopped walking. "Yeah, that's true, but I love to think. Thinking calms me."

"What is there to think about so late at night that could possibly be calming?" She asked him.

"My plans for later in life."

She looked over at her house that she had lived in her whole life. "What future could be so calming?"

He shrugged. "Any future that I'm happy in."

She looked back over at him. "What constitutes as your happiness?"

"A good job, friends, and someone that I care about," he explained.

Hawkeye remembered the strange feeling in the air when he said that. "Do you have someone that you care about?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't. I did for a bit, but she was not a fan of me learning alchemy."

"Oh really?" She sounded surprised. "I grew up with alchemy in my life, so it's just odd to hear that there are people that don't find it fascinating."

He nodded. "There are a lot more people than you would think that don't like alchemy. There are whole cities that don't want their citizens practicing alchemy."

She watched the way his face conveyed so many emotions at once. "I'd love to go visit some of those cities."

He chuckled. "You are not the picture that your father painted."

"No, I don't suppose I am. Ever since my mother's passing, we haven't exactly gotten along. We are good enough to be civil, but it's been difficult."

He smiled. "I think that's a good thing that you aren't. He said you were way too stuck up, stern, and unsociable."

"Is that why you asked me to walk with you?"

He shook his head. "No, I like walking with pretty women to calm my mind."

She blushed. "Oh, I see."

He looked down at his feet. "If you have trouble sleeping tonight, I wouldn't mind reading to you, Miss Hawkeye."

She crossed her arms over her chest as the breeze blew in, making her a little cold. "If I can't call you Mister Mustang, then you most definitely cannot call me Miss Hawkeye," she smiled.

He took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Hawkeye remembered how warm the jacket was. It was almost as if she had never left the inside of her house.

"Okay, Riza," he smiled.

"And if you have nothing better to do than read a part of a book to a girl that is half asleep tonight, then I welcome you to do so," she told him.

He nodded and smiled. "Cool."

She returned the smile and looked back over at her house. "My father used to read to me when I was younger, but he stopped him my mother got ill."

His smile dropped. "Oh, I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "It was so long ago. I hardly even think about those days anymore."

Hawkeye remembered him interlacing his fingers with hers and kissing her hand gently. This was a weird experience for her because she had never had someone of the opposite sex hold an interest in her. She had never had any sort of relationship before, so she had no idea if this was going to be the start of one.

Those were good times. The times were they bonded over nightly walks and late night readings. She never could fall asleep to him reading. She loved the sound of his voice too much.

They were each other's best friends. Despite her father's wishes, they were extremely close to each other. They had a lot of fun together until he decided to join the military.

But here they were. They were both the military dogs that she never wanted him to be.

Mustang reached over and found Hawkeye's hand. He could tell from the air in the room that there was something ominous going on. He always hated ominous feelings, especially now that he could not see why everything was so ominous.

He remembered days when three were no ominous feelings to be had.

Mustang remembered one day when he was apprenticed under Hawkeye's father and he had the day off because her father was starting to fall ill. He had asked her if she wanted to accompany him into town to have a fun day before they both had to get back to their work the next day.

She looked as nice as ever. She always wore long skirts, which part of him wished that she would wear something shorter, but he knew that that was not the kind of person she was. He liked the kind of person she was. Yet, today, she was wearing shorter shorts, which was kind of hot.

It was a hotter day of the summer, but they did not let that stop them from doing whatever they desired. Even he had ditched the casual suit that he would usually wear in his days off. He now donned a hooded tank top and casual pants.

They were walking through the market, trying to find something to make more supper tonight. Since her father was sick, they were going to have to do a lot today to keep things going.

They were looking over the vegetables for the stew they were going to be making. It was the only things that she was able to make, and she was determined to make supper by herself tonight.

Mustang remembered grabbing two good looking tomatoes and held them in front of his eyes. He turned and looked over at her.

"I only have eyes for you," he teased.

She hit his arm playfully and held out the basket for him to put the tomatoes in. He put them in the basket and laughed softly. He watched her as she grabbed some onions to put in the basket as well.

She turned to him and shook her head. "I can't believe father got sick enough to where he can't teach you. He usually fights through it anyway."

He nodded and put a hand on her back. "You've taken really good care of him, so he should be better by tomorrow. He might not be one hundred percent tomorrow, but he'll probably be good enough to kick my ass some more."

She smiled faintly. "I hope so. I mean, not that I want him to kick your ass, but I hope he does get better. I know me and him have not always been on the right foot, but he's still my father."

"My ass is still healing from when I fell, thanks to you," he teased.

"I wasn't the one that told you to fall off of the roof when I walked by," she retorted.

Mustang remembered grabbing her hand that was not carrying the basket and pulling her over to the next shop. He put his arm around her shoulders and chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'm not blaming you," he explained. "I'm the one that turned too much and too quickly."

He glanced over the varieties of rice that were on the table. He looked at the white rice that was on sale and pointed to it. He remembered being interrupted before he even started speaking.

"Oh, aren't you two just the cutest couple!?" The market lady practically screamed at them.

He took his arm quickly off of her and waved his hands. "No, no, no. We aren't a couple, ma'am. We're just good friends."

The lady winked. "Of course, 'good friends.' That's what I used to call all of my late night flings when I was younger. I totally understand."

He remembered looking over at her and her face was bright red from embarrassment. He winked at her, but at the same time, he shook his head to assure the lady that there was nothing going on between them.

He grabbed a bag of rice and paid for it before putting it in their basket and pulling her away from the table. He pulled her out of the market place, mostly because they were done shopping but also to pull her away from the lady at the stand.

This was not the first time that they had been told that they were a cute couple, but every time that it happened, she always froze up. He had no idea if she was embarrassed at the idea of dating him or if it was something she was interested in but was embarrassed for him to find out about.

When they were in a clear place, he looked over at her. He remembered that her face was no longer red, but she looked like she had no interest in talking. Of course, that did not stop him.

"Hey, don't listen to those people," he told her. "It's their favourite pastime to get in everyone's business."

She shook her head and grabbed his hand. "Don't worry about it," she said calmly, but sternly. She had a great way of being firm but caring at the same time. "Let's get back. I'm sure father is worried about us."

He nodded and started to walk back towards the house. He remembered there was a strong silence for a few minutes before either of them talked. It was almost awkward, but since they both knew each other rather well, the silence was also a pleasure.

"Do you want to take a walk tonight?" She asked. "I really think I could use one before I go to sleep."

He nodded. "Sure."

After months of them taking late night walks, he never had the heart to tell her that they no longer helped him fall asleep. He used to love thought driven because it calmed him down enough to sleep, but nowadays, everything he thought about was her. That kept him up for hours upon hours.

He also knew that reading to her did not help her sleep anymore. They both enjoyed each other's company way too much. Though, he was happy that it had evolved into that. It meant that they had grown as close as he wanted them to. He hoped maybe one day that they could grow even closer, but since he was her father's apprentice, it made that idea rather awkward. Her father had already hinted at his disapproval of their closeness.

"Actually," he said. "Instead of our usual path, do you want to walk to the lake? I heard someone at the market saying that they are shooting off fireworks, which sounds like a good time."

Mustang remembered the look on her face when he asked. She looked almost surprised and shocked at the same time.

She nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."

He smiled. "Yeah, it does."

It was quiet again as they continued to walk to the house. He thought a lot about them. He watched her as they walked in silence. When she shivered slightly, he put his arm around her, knowing he was like a walking heater. He felt her lean in to him, which was the reassurance he needed.

When they got back to the house, her father was still sleeping. They both had to try and be as quiet as possible because they both did not want to wake him up. They had seen that happen before and it was not a fun time.

He remembered sitting back and watching her cook. He could usually cook and sometimes did cook supper for them, but since she really wanted to cook supper tonight, he was going to let her.

He sat on the counter and watched her as she prepared the stew. She was so graceful with everything that she did. He was surprised that he had not seen more guys go after her. She was the perfect woman.

He knew that he would be upset with the news that he was going to be presenting at dinner. Yet, since he knew that she would be highly disappointed in him, he wanted to also wait until her father and he was alone to be able tell him that he was going to join the military. Her father would be upset, but she would be disappointed and that killed him.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when she stuck a spoon in his face.

"Tell me if it needs more salt," she said.

He put his hand on hers and directed the spoon to his mouth. He tasted the stew and nodded.

"It's good, but it may need some more salt," he told her.

She put the spoon down on the counter and sighed. "I thought so."

They both sat in silence for a few brief seconds before in even more brief seconds her hands were holding onto his shirt and his hands were in her hair and their lips were pressed together.

They had never done something like this before. They had only ever been platonic before. They were close enough to where something such as a kiss on the forehead or falling asleep while holding the other. It was always platonic though.

This kiss was not platonic.

He had kissed a few girls in his lifetime, but he, even still, had not kissed anyone that kissed better than her. He wished he got to kiss her for real more often because they were way better than the kisses they shared undercover.

Those days were over, thanks to the fraternisation laws.

Hawkeye squeezed his hand and took a deep breath. The medical equipment was very shiny and looked very sharp. There were probes and scalpels lining the walls in order of size. There were magnifying glasses that were hanging on hooks on the far wall.

He had no idea what they had walked into, but there was no way that he was comfortable with it. The temperature in the room was cooler than the tunnels that they had just gotten out of. He, who never really gets cold, shivered.

"What I wouldn't give right now for a nice bowl of stew that needs just a pinch more of salt," he joked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I think I like being around you more when you were too tired to talk."

"Yeah, now I never shut up," he laughed.

The door slammed shut behind them. It echoed throughout the room, causing both of them to move closer together. There was no one in the room with them, so it was quite alarming.

Hawkeye gritted her teeth. "Sometimes I wish you would though."

 **Heyo! So school's started back up, so I will not have as much time to write, even though I'll definitely find the time because I'm the best (worst?) procrastinator ever. Sorry this chapter doesn't have as much with the actual story. I really just wanted to do some backstory. Also, this helped get me out of my little ditch because things are going to be happening soon. Stay tuned!**


	7. Chapter 7

Hawkeye's neck stung as she tried to move her head around. There were a few nicks down every side of her neck. She had lashes across her back and more cuts down her arms and legs. She shuddered as she looked around, trying to figure out where she was and how she got there. She winced as she sat up straight.

She needed to get a handle on her surroundings as well as herself. She could not really see anything except for the imminent area around her. She could see the cuts that had dried blood around them and a few areas where there were chunks picked out of her skin.

She reached her hand up to her forehead and felt a mixture of blood and sweat. Her head was ringing and pounding with pain. Her head wavered around as she tried to sit up straighter. She held her hand out, trying to see if she could find something other than the wall that she had been leaning against. She felt another wall barely graze her fingertips, letting her know that she was near the corner of whatever room she was in.

She winced as she leaned over and put her hand completely against the wall. She could feel that she was only in her undergarments at this point, but she still had no idea how she got there or how all of the cuts had gotten all over her body. She had been tortured before so it was not shock that made the memories escape her mind.

Suddenly, she heard a match strike and there was now light in the dark room. Hawkeye tried to cover herself up, but the pain didn't seem worth it. She looked over at the side of the room that the light was coming from.

Another match was lit as soon as the original one burnt out. This time, the match was used to light a candle that was in a fixture on the wall.

"Well, good morning, Captain."

She blinked heavily to make out the face of the person speaking to her. She took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall.

"Hello, _Chad_ ," she hissed.

He waved his hand. "That's not really my name. Jade was concerned that either you or Mustang heard my name said at a confrontation scene, so she made me go by Chad."

Hawkeye shrugged. "Like I care."

He stood up and tossed something to the side. It looked like a piece of fabric or an article of clothing. The longer she stared at it, the more she started to recognise it. It was her skirt.

"Oh, I think you should care," he laughed. "Especially since your precious little boy toy is locked away somewhere that you won't see for a long while. Don't worry about him though. I'd definitely say that you've had the worse treatment today."

She covered her body through the pain. Once everything settled, it seemed not to hurt anymore. She looked down at the floor in shame.

"The general is in the other room with my sister," he said. "We're twins, which is why it is so easy for it to seem like we are in two places at once. She's the alchemist of the two of us, but if I have the stone, I can do a few things here and there."

Hawkeye wanted to stop listening, but the most she could do right now was to make sure that her faux-fiancé was okay. He needed to be okay.

"She's crazy sometimes," he laughed. "I'm sure that he is fine though. Usually, she gets to do the torturing and the hurting, but today, she gave it to me."

"Isn't she nice?" She scoffed.

He took a few steps closer to her. "Yeah, Caro is something. Though, you'll see what she's done soon enough. I know we can't keep you guys split up forever. We can't torture you without some reward. Or else, we'd get nothing out of you."

He held his hand out to her. "Rewards and punishments. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the two."

She moved back as far as she could. "What is your problem? Why are you doing this in the first place?"

"It's all about rewards and punishments. You reward one by punishing another," he explained and grabbed her hair, pulling her up to her feet. "You rewarded one group of people and pushed another to be punished. It's how these big governments think. You all are too big to think about the little people like us. It's how these things always work. You will always have an enemy. The difference between us and the rest of them is that we decided to take action."

Hawkeye held onto his arm before returning her hands to her chest. "Then, no one will ever be happy. Create a new government, you'll create a new enemy. Create no government and everyone is your enemy."

He pushed her against the wall. "You can't create a solution when part of the problem is still there. That problem was the Fuhrer and his reign, and you both were a part of it. You all were. It's time for a change."

She whimpered and resisted lashing out. "How do you suppose change will happen? We were coming up with a plan and-"

He put his other hand around her neck. "We have another plan, and it involves your precious little boy toy and his little magic tricks," he whispered in her ear before licking up from her ear lobe.

Tears formed in her eyes. She wanted so hard to do what she normally did to guys that touched her like this, but this was different. She couldn't remember what happened, but her body did. And that took all of her will from her.

"He's going to ruin the world," he giggled. "And take you down with him."

He let her go, and she tumbled to the floor. He practically skipped over to her skirt before kicking it back over to her.

"Maybe if you're nice, then I'll give you your shirt," he said before leaving the room and slamming the wooden door behind him.

 **XXX**

Mustang woke up strapped to a cold stone table, dissimilar to the ones that Hawkeye and he had seen just moments ago. Was it moments ago? He hadn't felt any pain before becoming unconscious.

Hawkeye.

He tried looking around the room to see if she was in the room with him. Perhaps she was also strapped to a table in this unusually florescent white room.

Wait- he could see.

He desperately wanted to feel his face or pinch his arm to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. He could always see in his dreams. But since his arms were strapped down, there was no way that that was going to happen.

Suddenly, he felt a drop of water hit his ear. He turned to look back at the source of the water, a spout directly above him. A drop landed in his eyes, and he realised that he could not blink.

"You didn't think that we'd give you your sight back without running a few tests on you, did you?" A shrill voice from behind him asked. "You saw the Truth. Something I desperately want."

He winced as another drop of water landed on his eyes. He started to feel the gear that was holding his eyes open.

"You're welcome, by the way," the voice sneered. "I could have left you blind, but you are much more helpful to us if you can see what you're doing. Also, it's almost like an incentive."

"What am I doing?" Mustang broke his silence. "And where's Riza?"

Footsteps echoed to Roy's right. He turned to look at who had been speaking to him right as a drop of water hit his ear.

It was a girl with short brown hair that barely made it to her ears. She wore the black hooded robes that they had seen all of those people in. She had nothing about her that would make her appear evil, but she was.

"Oh, your girlfriend is fine," she laughed "She's getting her own little treatment. She looks much better as a blonde by the way."

Mustang made eye contact with her, something he missed being able to do.

"She's not my girlfriend," he snarled. "She's my right hand man."

The girl laughed. "Oh, don't I know it? That's why she has her own treatment. The bitch shot me!"

She pulled up a chair next to the table he was on and ran a hand along his bare chest. She put her hand over his heart and tapped her fingers.

"Roy Mustang, you and your crew have been the cause of my pain for so long, and, now, I get to be the cause of yours." She dug her nails in slightly. "If you survive, then we know we have the right person for the job. And when you do live through this pain, I will create pain you have never felt before."

"So you are our automail alchemist," he laughed softly. "And if I can remember right, and my mind isn't too jumbled, you're also the one that talked to me when I woke up in this awful place."

She lifted up her hand. The metal shined in the bright light. Unlike the Fullmetal Alchemist, it was only her hand that was made of automail.

"Indeed," she sighed. "And had I been on the train, the two of you might be dead already, but my alchemy only works with stone. So I was told to stay behind, and I would get my chance later."

He turned his head slightly so the water didn't hit his eyes. "You aren't in charge."

She reached and unhooked his eyes so he could blink naturally. "No, and neither is my brother, Victor- or Chad as you know him."

He closed his eyes for a moment. "I suppose I don't get to know the person behind all of this."

She laughed. "That would ruin all of the fun." She put her metal hand on his leg. "Fun for me. None for you." The cuff on his leg moved around the table, stretching him out.

Mustang winced and opened his eyes. "Fun isn't exactly something that I've had in a long while," he said through gritted teeth.

"You're lying on a transmutation circle. I could have fun with this all day," she said and had his arms cross over behind his head and stretch farther than what was comfortable.

The door to the room slammed open, creating an echo throughout the room.

"My job is done, for now at least," a deep voice said. Mustang assumed that it was her brother.

Mustang could feel the release of pressure on his limbs as she stepped away. He watched them whisper amongst themselves. He couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but he figured they were talking about Hawkeye.

The brother looked over and saw his interest in their conversation. He threw something over Mustangs face, so he couldn't read their lips. Mustang instantly recognised it as the shirt that Hawkeye was wearing the night that they were taken from the bar.

"What did you do to her!?" He yelled, trying to move the shirt off of his face.

His leg got pulled even more with a jerk, causing him to cry out in pain. He would snap out flames, but his hands were too close to his ears. He would burn himself in the process.

"She's alive," the brother huffed.

The sister took the shirt off of his face and stuffed it into his mouth. "If you give us a moment, then you can go see your precious little thing again. Just shut up."

Mustang growled and snapped his fingers, singeing his ear and setting her robe aflame. He tried to spit out her shirt, so he could breathe properly and talk.

"Alive doesn't mean well," he growled.

She moved his feet among the table so that they were stretching as well. He cried out.

"Toss him in there," she frowned. "I don't want to see his face anymore. He'll get tortured just by being there."

The brother nodded and pressed a button under the table which released his hands and legs from the table. He walked over and grabbed Mustang by his hair and pulled him out of the room.

Outside of the room was a dark hallway. He could hear some echoing from around them. His blindness was the only thing that was going to help him in this situation, especially as he felt his hands being cuffed behind him.

Victor clutched his arm tightly in a way where Mustang couldn't angle his flames at him. He dragged him down the hall at a pace where he stumbled over his own feet as he walked down the hall.

When they finally stopped, he opened a door and shoved him inside. Mustang fell inside on the stone floor. He heard a metal _click_ on the floor before the stone door slammed shut. There was a warm glow by the door before the only light in the room was the single candle on the wall. He realised that the Stone Alchemist had melded the door and wall together, something he could not burn through.

He took a deep breath and stood up. He looked around to see what had been thrown in the cell along with him. It was nothing but stone and the one candle.

"Roy?"

Mustang looked over at the back corner of the cell and saw Hawkeye back in the corner. She was holding a key, which he was assuming was the thing thrown in the cell with him.

She looked awful. She was covered in cuts and bruises from head to toe. She had barely any clothes on her body. Her hair looked to be in tangles. She looked miserable.

He knelt next to her, not caring that his hands were still cuffed behind him. He could see so much pain in her eyes. He forgot everything that he had gone through.

"What happened?" He asked her in a whisper, like his words could hurt her. "Are you okay?"

She held up the key like that was all that she could focus on. "I don't know. I don't feel anything specifically that hurts or anything. Everything just feels numb."

Her words almost sounded like they slurred together. She had gone through something fierce, and he was scared to ask her what. He could only assume from the key clues that he had.

Hawkeye looked up at Mustang. He seemed to be in one piece, which was more than what she could say for herself. She gestured for him to turn around so that she could unlock his cuffs by tapping his leg. That's all that she could bring herself to do.

She watched as he turned his back to her. She reached out to his hands before drawing back. She took a deep breath before taking his hands in one of hers and unlocking the handcuffs with the key with the other. She held the cuffs as they fell. She studied them. She wanted to put them on to contain herself so that she didn't have to move anymore, so that nothing else would possibly happen to her.

Mustang quickly turned back around from her and took the cuffs out of her hand. He tossed them to the side and took her hands. She tried to take her hands out of his momentarily before falling into his arms with tears streaming down her face.

He scooped her up into his lap and held her gently. He rocked her back and forth slightly as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. He had never seen her cry out of nowhere. She was a pretty tough person. The few times that she had cried near him it was because of a panic attack or because she thought he had died. Maybe that was it.

"Hey, hey, Riza," he whispered. "I'm here. You're here. We may be stuck here, but we're here."

She took a deep breath and held his hand. She cradled it in her hands and held it close to her heart.

"I don't want to," she said. "I just want to stay here. Right here."

"It's okay," he muttered. "You'll always have me. I got you."

Hawkeye nodded and put her mouth against his hand. He was so warm, and her body felt like nothing. She felt no pain, and she desperately wished that she could.

They sat in silence for what felt like hours before Mustang realised that she had fallen asleep. He continued to hold her, feeling her breaths, as he slowly looked over her body. She had to be in so much pain.

If there was anything this mission taught him, he hated to see her hurt and in pain.

"We'll get you out of here soon, Riza," he said before kissing her temple. "I promise it."

 **I apologise that it has been ages since I posted an update. I have been so busy with school, and now work, that I haven't had time. I also lost all motivation to write, but it is back, and here is a new chapter. I know it is my shortest chapter yet, but it's something. 3**


	8. Chapter 8

Hawkeye paced around the room as she played with the buttons on Mustang's shirt that he had given her. She had been moved out of the stone cell into the white medical looking room while she had been sleeping the night before. She had been in whatever tragedy of a place this was for almost a week now. They took Mustang a few nights ago, and she hadn't seen him since. She just wanted to know that he was okay.

She cradled her arm in the other. She still had all of the cuts and bruises on her body, but they stopped stinging when she walked. They stopped hurting in the slightest as she moved. The only thing that hurt anymore was her dignity.

The floor was cold against her bare feet. She tried to stay away from the medical equipment that lined the walls. She wasn't one-hundred percent sure that these same medical tools cut her up. She continued to pace, keeping her eyes off of the walls.

Hawkeye thought about what Mustang was going through. He never came back to the room with cuts like she had, so there was obviously something going on that she had no idea of. Maybe they wanted someone with Alchemy for their plan, and that's why he was important. This couldn't be another Doom's Day where people are planning of making another Philosopher's Stone, could it? Mustang couldn't be the last piece of the puzzle again, could he?

She jumped back as the door slammed open. It was the only noise she had heard since she had woken up other than her feet hitting the floor. She looked over at the cloaked figure standing in the doorway. They wore all black and stood out compared to the rest of the white room.

They took off their hood and ran their hands through their short hair. Their brown eyes made contact with Hawkeye's once they opened them.

"I hate days like this," Caro said. "You know the ones… where your partner just doesn't do anything right and you have to fix it."

Hawkeye took a step back and blinked rapidly a few times. She had only talked to Caro once in the week that she had been there. She mostly dealt with Victor- the brother that thought with his head more than his brain. But Caro was a character. She could be happy one minute and angry the next. She never knew what to expect.

She scratched the back of her neck and stammered to answer. She quickly just shut her mouth. She twined her hands together behind her back before looking back down at the X's that Victor had carved into her feet.

"You would know that, right, Ms. Hawkeye?" She asked. "I'm sure there's been some days that poor, blind, little Roy just does not have it together." She laughed as if she had just told a stupidly funny joke. "He doesn't have anything together now does he? He gets his sight back, and he's less help than he was before. Maybe I should have just left him that way. Maybe you can be of some help to me?"

Hawkeye struggled to speak since her mouth was so dry. "I-I can't perform alchemy. I would be of no help to whatever your cause is."

Caro started to walk around the room, almost in a circle around Hawkeye. She pursed her lips and looked her over.

"There's no such thing as 'can't perform alchemy.' You just simply haven't tried hard enough," she said with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. "But that can change quickly, especially once we show you the condition of your little precious hubby."

Hawkeye glared at the floor. She hated that they were being used against each other. This would have never happened ten years ago. Sure, they were always friends, but even upon entering the military, they knew their duty, and that was to not let something like this come between them. They were supposed to be strong, hard comrades, not weaklings.

She took a deep breath and looked over at Caro. "Why me? There are hundreds of actual alchemists in the world. They could do your bidding a lot sooner than I could, even if I go through with this." She straightened her stance, hoping that if she appeared stronger that she would be stronger. "It could take months or even years to train me on this. There are people in the world that would do it right now. Most of them are locked up in our prison. This was the same crime that the General and our army were so hell-bent on stopping."

Caro nodded and took a step closer to Hawkeye. "I have thought about this plan for a long time. The person who leads us knows what you have in your prisons, and they also know what we must do to get our plan underway."

Hawkeye took a step closer to her as well. There was barely a foot between the two now. "And what exactly is this plan?"

Caro smirked. "Once we get you to a decent beginner's level of alchemy, you are going to attempt a human transmutation. Then, you will do our bidding."

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that? The gate gives you this ultimate power. I could over power you in a heartbeat."

Caro nodded. "Me? Probably. Our leader? Impossible. They will have similar powers to yours since they will have a philosopher's stone, and since you will still be very inexperienced, you won't beat them."

Hawkeye knew this logic was flawed, but she wasn't going to argue for the sake of possibly giving them a solution or a better plan at all.

"You still haven't answered why me or why the general in the first place?" Hawkeye asked, raising an eyebrow and placing her hands on her hips.

Everything hurt to move or touch, but she wanted to appear strong. She always was strong even when she was weak. And right now, no matter how much she was hurting or how weak she really felt, she had to be strong. She had to be strong to keep her and Mustang alive. She had to be strong to be able to defeat whatever evil this was. She had to be strong so that they could go home.

Even though Mustang had his sight back, he was always too tired to do anything alchemy wise. They worked him to the bone or tortured him to the point that he couldn't move without passing out from the pain. Hawkeye hadn't seen him in days, but she could hear his screams.

"Because you were a part of the original problem," Caro said. "Without you, there would have been no issue in the first place. And yet, even if there was still the issue, you two got involved anyway. The general opened the gate to save you. You have to know that you aren't just anybody if someone is doing that for you."

Hawkeye scoffed. "That situation was more complicated than you could ever believe."

"Would you have done the same if the roles were switched?"

She hesitated before she gave her answer. Would she have? She did care for the general, but she did have a better sense of "doing something for the greater good" compared to him. She was ready to die that day, but the general made it so impossible. She was grateful, but at the same time, she knew it wasn't the right decision to make.

But she also knew she would have done anything to make sure that he was okay. That was what they always did to an extent. Her whole job was basically to save his life, which she has had to do multiple times. She would do it even if he hadn't asked. She was loyal to him and cared for him.

"Yes."

 **XXX**

Mustang woke up shivering with nothing but his pants on. His own body warmth was keeping him warm for the most part, but he was cold enough to where he couldn't produce enough heat.

This was the second time he had woken up in this room. He didn't think this time was any worse than the last, but it also wasn't any better.

He curled into a ball in the corner of the room. It felt like he was in a freezer that one would keep ice cream in, but there was nothing in here but a few chains, shelves, and him.

There was almost no available light in the room. All of the light was coming from the cracks in the door frame, which was dim. He couldn't see much other than what was right around him, but he was pretty positive that he didn't want to.

All of the sudden, the door swung open, blinding Mustang with light. He covered his eyes, but internally rejoiced as a hint of heat came in from outside the room. He hadn't quite gotten used to having his vision back, and the blinding light was not helping his recovery.

"Roy?" He heard an almost child-like voice say.

Mustang moved his hand away from his face. "Alphonse? Please tell me I'm not imaging you."

The boy walked over to him and helped him stand up. The cold against the bottom of his feet made him shiver. He looked up at Alphonse almost in disbelief that help was here. He leaned heavily against the boy and nearly collapsed as he felt the warm floor beneath his feet.

"What happened to you, sir?" Alphonse asked. "You look pretty torn up."

Mustang shook his head. "We can get to that later. Have you found Riza? I haven't seen her in days."

Alphonse shook his head. "No. Major Armstrong is rounding up the rest of these hooligans. We received an anonymous tip about where you guys might be, and how you were in danger." He knelt next to the General. "We couldn't just leave it be, especially since you are in line to be Führer, and also, there's been other threats to the west."

Mustang rubbed his eyes and looked up at the boy. Though, he wasn't really a boy anymore. His brother and he had grown up quite a lot since they had first met. His brother was engaged, and he was growing quickly in the ranks of the military and in the hearts of the country.

"We have to find Riza. I'm not leaving until I see her."

Alphonse had a confused look on his face, which was understandable. No one but Riza knew that his sight had been fixed. Mustang patted his cheek before standing up.

"Her holding cell was down the hall and to the right. She'll be there or in the large interior room," Mustang informed him. "I'll go to the interior room; you check the cell. Meet me back here if you find her. We need to get back to Central Command as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," Alphonse said with a nod before taking off down the hall.

Mustang watched him turn down the hall before heading to the interior room. Without chains or manipulations, he was a force to be reckoned with. Caro and her insidious twin brother had hurt Hawkeye for the last time.

He was a few feet from the door when he was suddenly picked up and smothered in a hug, which was the most alarming thing that he had experienced since this mission started. He took a deep breath.

"Armstrong, down boy," Mustang wheezed.

Once his feet were placed on the ground, he looked over at the large muscular man. If there was anyone that could help him with this now, it was Major Armstrong. He had never felt weaker in his life.

"She's in this room," Mustang told him. "Thank you for coming."

Armstrong nodded. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't come to the aid for others? It's not the Armstrong way to just stand idly by."

Mustang smiled for probably the first time in a week and a half. It felt almost foreign after all that they had been through, and it was almost over. He shivered as he took his last breath before opening the door.

He ran in and breathed the deepest sigh of relief when he saw that Hawkeye seemed okay while she was standing in the middle of the room. His eyes immediately jumped to Caro and he raised a hand.

"It's over Caro," he told her. "I wouldn't put up a fight against two state alchemists."

Caro held her hands out to be cuffed. "I know when to give up, Roy, unlike you. This is far from over, but this is the last you'll see of me."

Armstrong walked over to cuff her while Roy moved over to Hawkeye. He put his hands on her arms to make sure that she was absolutely okay. Their eyes met for a moment before she laid her head on his chest. He put his arms around her in a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"It's okay. We're going home now."

Hawkeye shook her head in disbelief as she looked back up at him. "It can't be this easy."

Mustang brushed her bangs to the side and cleared his throat. "Sometimes it is this easy, but don't worry. I'll personally make sure that this threat is extinguished when we get back to Command Central. I wouldn't blame you if you took an early retirement after all that you went through."

She shook her head. "I need to see this through. Then, we can talk retirement."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't expect anything else from you," he told her before letting her go. "Now, Alphonse is I'm sure waiting for us. Let's go put these monsters where they belong and get a good night's rest."

 **XXX**

Mustang put the jacket on Hawkeye's shoulders that Armstrong had offered him. It was a little too large for him but it was better than nothing than his shirt for her. Stepping out into the daylight was probably the most exhilarating thing that he had done in a while after all that had happened to him.

He walked out to the cars that the small military group arrived in. He was ready to put his feet up and put all of this to rest. Who wouldn't be though? To see his best friend in so much pain was more pain than could ever be physically inflicted upon him.

Armstrong was holding Caro and Victor by their arms and was leading them to the armored car. Mustang never wanted to see their faces again.

Hawkeye looked back at the captors turned captives. They had both done unspeakable things to her, and she was ready to be back at home with Hayate. He was the only man that she wanted right now.

Suddenly, two gunshots rang in the air.

It startled everyone in the rescue party. Everyone dropped to the ground until they were sure that there were no more shots to be shot. The area that they were in made it near impossible to figure out where the gunshots came from.

Hawkeye turned and raised the gun that Armstrong gave her. She looked around to see where the shots came from, but there was nobody to see. She looked over to see Caro and Victor on the ground with bullet wounds in their necks. She ran over to Caro and tried to stop the bleeding. Victor could die for all that she cared.

"Ändern sie den pfad," she gurgled before passing away.

Victor twitched a bit more before he became completely still. She was filled with such rage that she wanted to put a few more bullets in him to make sure that he was completely dead. He was scum for doing what he did.

Hawkeye raised her gun again, looking for anyone or anything that could point her to the shooter. They were the only hope they had of exterminating their little cult, and now they were dead.

Mustang walked over to her and put a hand on her arm. He lowered her weapon and sighed. He took the gun from her hands gently.

"She warned us of this," he said as he looked up to see if there was anything as well. "I guess this was what she meant. She knew."

Hawkeye looked up at him. "What are we going to do now?"

He gently grabbed her hand and started to lead her back to the car. "We go back to Central and go from there. But before we do that, I'm sure both of us would love a shower and some actual sleep."

She nodded and followed him. "I'm ready to be back in my own clothes."

He opened the car door for her and watched as she got in. He climbed in after her and shut the door. He could tell that she was a little wary of everything that she did now. She had good reason for it. She had been treated so poorly while they were held captive. He wouldn't be surprised if she stopped working for the military when they got back to Central.

Hawkeye curled into the corner of the seat and wrapped the jacket tightly around her. She was thankful that the General was being so caring after everything that they had been through. She wanted nothing more to sleep and pretend none of this never happened.

 **XXX**

Hawkeye had fallen asleep at some point during the ride back to Central. When they got to her place, Mustang picked her up and carried her out of the car and into her place. He told Alphonse and Armstrong just go back to Central without taking him home. He knew once Hawkeye woke up that she wouldn't want to be alone.

He carefully opened the door and walked inside, careful not to hit her head on the door frame. He walked into her bedroom and set her down on the bed. As he turned to walk towards her closet, he noticed Black Hayate sitting in the doorway, wagging his tail in excitement.

He walked over to the dog and began to pet him on the head. He really didn't want him to bark and wake up Hawkeye too early for her recovery, so he picked him up and carried him out of the room. But not too soon, did he bark anyway.

Mustang put Hayate on the couch and told him to stay. He made sure that the dog wasn't going to follow him back into the room before entering. He noticed that she was still asleep and closed the door behind him quietly.

Hawkeye jumped and sat up as the door closed. She moved back on the bed until her back was against the wall. She took deep, heaving breaths and trembled. She tried to gather where she was but everything that she saw was a blur because of the tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, Riza, it's okay," Mustang tried to reassure her. "It's Roy. I'm not going to hurt you. It's okay."

She covered her eyes with her hands and brought her knees to her chest. She tried to regulate her breathing, as she had been taught during her therapy after the Promised Day, but it wasn't helping. She just tried to focus her breathing.

He moved a little closer to her and held out his hands towards her. He knew that she was in a fragile state right now and didn't want to cause her anymore anxiety than she was already having.

"Riza," Mustang said calmly. "You're safe now. It's okay. I'm here for you."

Hawkeye broke out of her trance when he said her name. She hadn't heard anything he had said until then. She uncovered her eyes and looked up at him. She didn't want to move anymore.

"I don't want to hurt anymore," she told him. "I-I don't want to."

He nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed. He ran his hand through his hair to prevent it from covering his eyes. "You don't have to anymore. You're back home."

She rubbed her nose before shaking her head. She grabbed onto her hair. She wanted to be blonde again. She wanted her hair to be short again. She wanted every change that this mission had back to the way that it was. She wanted Roy to look the same again, not that he was much different for this to begin with.

She cleared her throat and edged slightly away from the wall. "I think I'm going to take a shower, or a bath. I just want to wash this all away."

Mustang nodded. "I think that's a good idea. Do you want to be left alone? I can leave unless you want me to stay."

Hawkeye reached over and grabbed his hand. "No, don't go." She retracted her hand. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

He smiled softly and reached his hand out to her. "Don't think about it. Let's get you into that bathroom and into some new clothes, okay?"

She nodded and slowly grabbed his hand. She moved closer to him before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. She couldn't believe that she initially wanted to do this alone. Granted, he was blind for a majority of the mission.

Mustang held her close to him. He could feel her shaking in his arms. He rubbed her back, trying to get her to calm down a little bit more. He didn't blame her for having this anxiety after everything that she had been through between this and the Promised Day. She had almost died, extremely injured, and assaulted in unspeakable ways. He was just glad that after all of what happened that he was still here for her, to support her.

"Thank you," she told him.

"Anything for my Queen."

 **HEY GUYS. New UpDAte. And I know it sounds like the story ends there, but NO! There is more to come. Thanks for all of the love especially since I update this so sporadically.**


	9. Chapter 9

Two weeks had passed since they had returned to Central Command. Riza still was unable to sleep alone. Hayate wasn't enough to keep her mind calm during the night. Her anxiety had gotten better, but it still wasn't to the point where she could work on the case effectively. She took a shower every morning to wash away her nightmares and a bath every evening to wash away the memories. She worried Roy.

Roy had to be strong. He stayed with her every night to make sure that she got a good night sleep, and it was the only way that he got one either. He held her in his arms pretty much every night so that she felt like she wasn't alone. He had to make sure that she ate throughout the day, otherwise she wouldn't eat until she was in pain.

But at the same time, she was doing so much for him. His life had changed so much in the time that he was blind, and he had no idea how to go about it. He had to relearn how to write. His signature was the most unreadable thing that he had ever seen. Also, he never needed a friend more. Even though he wasn't as traumatized in their holding cell as she had been, he was scared of himself and what he could do. If he had been targeted to be the power cell of the cult, then just how strong was he? Could he even trust himself to be the comfort that Riza needed?

Today was the day. They both were going to go to Central Command to do work instead of doing whatever they could from Riza's home. It was time. They both needed to get out and take a breath of fresh air. If anything, it would be good for them to just be back where they started. Almost like a fresh reset.

Roy looked over at Riza as she was putting her shoes on. She had cut her hair back to the length it was when he first met her. He always liked her hair short, but he still appreciated it when it was longer. Most of the cuts that were on her body had healed. Only a few left scars. She wore her usual black turtle neck and dark tan combat pants. She appeared to look like her normal self again, but Roy knew different.

Riza stood up as Roy walked towards her. She was grateful for everything he did for her, even though he clearly was struggling too. He had a burn scar on the back of his neck from the freezer that they kept him in. He grew out his hair a bit so that it was covered, but when they laid down to go to bed, she would run her thumb over it. It became the most calming thing about him. She straightened up the collar of his white button down.

He cleared his throat and smiled at her. She was his best friend, and he was glad to see that she was at least able to get into her old covert clothes. She'd mostly been dressing in skirts or dresses; anything easy to put on. He tilted his head slightly and moved her bangs out of the way of her face.

"Are you ready to head out?" He asked her. "We can leave whenever. I just want to make sure that you're going to be okay."

Riza nodded and looked around the room for a brief moment. She snapped her fingers like she was trying to remember something. She put her pointer finger on her nose. "I know Hayate might not help us much, but it would make me feel a little more comfortable while we're there."

He nodded. "Yeah, of course. We probably aren't going to be doing much work anyway. Today is mostly an introduction day."

She nodded slowly and walked into the bathroom. He followed her and leaned against the door frame. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her as she sat on the edge of the tub. She put her elbows on her knees and propped her head in her hands. She took a large breath and held it for a moment before sighing.

Roy walked over to her. He knelt in front of her and put his hands on her knees. He sat back on his feet and watched her. He noticed that her eyes were starting to water. Reaching over to his left, he grabbed a tissue from the box on her counter and wiped her eyes. He hated to see her cry, but he knew he couldn't blame her for it.

Riza took the tissue from his hand and wiped her nose. She had become a reoccurring picture, playing over and over again. She hated that she cried so much and depended on him so deeply. She had always depended on him. He was everything to her. She slid off of the edge of the tub and sat in front of him on the floor.

"I really want to go," she told him. "I just can't think of leaving without having anxiety. What if there are others out there? And I mean right out there."

He nodded and put his hands on her cheeks. "Even if they are, you have me. Alphonse is picking us up, so he'll be there too. You won't be alone."

Riza took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." She nodded again. "Okay."

Roy smiled and rubbed her cheek gently. "After we finish up at the office, how about you and I go get something to eat? Like not having someone bring us stuff from the market. You and I actually going out to a restaurant and getting real food?"

Her eyes widened, and she shivered a little bit. "I-I don't know."

He moved his hands off of her face and held her hands. "It's okay, Riza. We don't have to. It was just a thought."

She nodded. "Can we just go to Central?"

Roy cleared his throat. "Yeah, yeah." He stood up and helped her to her feet. "To Central we go."

She stood up straight and shrugged her shoulders. Her head was starting to hurt. She had migraines most days from constant worrying or dehydration. They made her feel weaker than she really was. She never wanted to move when she had the migraines. She probably could have recovered a little quicker if she didn't have these stupid migraines. But the pain made her feel human.

Roy walked out of the bathroom and towards the front door. He knew that she was doing her best, and he really appreciated her effort. He just wanted to be able to move on in his own way, which was at a lot faster pace than what Riza was moving at. Not that her pace was bad; it just wasn't what he needed.

But he needed her.

Riza walked out of the door that Roy had held open for her. The sun was bright, but the clouds quickly covered it. It looked like it was going to rain soon. She walked down the steps and looked back at Roy to make sure that he was following.

Roy gestured for her to keep walking down the stairs and smiled at her. He locked the door and headed down the stairs after her. He put the keys in his pocket before putting his hand gently on her back to let her know that he was there. He looked over to Alphonse and nodded for him to open the door.

Feeling Roy's hand on her back, Riza shivered. She looked back at him before getting into the car. She said her thanks to Alphonse and folded her hands in her lap. Roy climbed in and sat down next to her, followed by Al, who sat across from them.

"We have a pretty easy day planned for both of you," Al said. "It mostly starts with a little bit of catching up, both with your team and with what's been happening in central while you've been gone. Then, Havoc insisted on making lunch for everyone before we break, and you guys do whatever you seem fit to do. We don't want to rush you guys."

Riza smiled. "Thank you, Alphonse," she said quietly. "You always were sweet in looking out for everyone."

Alphonse nodded and flustered a little bit. "I'm just doing my job, Captain Hawkeye."

The rest of the ride to Central was quiet with the exception of a few coughs and moans between them. When they got there, Al opened the door first, and Hayate ran out of the car. Hawkeye reached out and got out of the car to chase after him. She stopped running after him when she saw him at Falman's feet.

"Hey, glad to see that he still likes me, even though I was a terrible babysitter," Falman laughed and knelt down to pet Hayate.

Hawkeye took a deep breath and closed her eyes. There was no need to worry. She was okay and safe in central. She reopened her eyes to see Mustang standing next to her. She looked at him before quickly turning away. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. She was an absolute mess.

"Thanks, Falman," she said before picking up Hayate and holding him in her arms. "Where's everyone else?"

Falman pointed up to the building. "Fuery and Havoc are inside in the office. Breda is grocery shopping for Havoc's lunch, which I'm sure we're all so excited for." They could both sense the strong sarcasm in his voice. "Fuhrer Grumman said that he would eventually join us, but there's no telling when that is. He's had a lot on his plate recently, with the attacks on Central, but I know he can never pass up food, no matter how back Havoc makes it."

Mustang chuckled. "We'll just have to see, then." He looked around the campus. "I forgot how nice it is to be here; well, being able to see how freeing it is here is nice."

Hawkeye looked over at him and nodded. "It certainly is good to be back here," she said curtly before heading to the front door. She needed to get back to her old self, and while she was here, it was a lot easier to get in touch with that side. The downside was that that part of her closed off a lot of emotions that she still needed to work over.

Mustang clasped a hand on Falman's shoulder to stop him from following Hawkeye for a moment. "Thanks for being out here to greet us," he said. "It's been a rough few days for the both of us, but I know that Hawkeye, especially, appreciates it."

"No problem, sir. Just doing my job," he stated. "How does it feel to be able to see again? I'm sure it's been hard, sir."

He shrugged. "The first few days were pretty bad. It felt like an extremely bad hangover. The lights were constantly too bright, which gave me extremely bad headaches. But since I wasn't in an environment that I could control, I just had to deal with it."

Falman shook his head. "That's rough, sir. How's she holding up?"

"She's doing better than she was when we got back, but I wouldn't say that she's great," Mustang sighed. "We're getting there. I'm hoping this does her a lot of good today."

Hawkeye wanted to pipe up and say that she could hear them talking, but she knew it was the best that she didn't interject. He was right. She wasn't great, but she knew that she needed to be, which was the only reason that she agreed to be here.

She looked around the building as she walked towards their offices. She was looking forward to being back in her cubicle, signing Mustang's signature away when he got busy. Maybe routine was what she needed.

When they got to the office, Hawkeye's face dropped. There were papers everywhere. The room was so unorganized. What had the boys been doing while she was gone?

Havoc and Fuery paused with whatever paperwork that they were doing when everyone walked in before standing up and saluting. "Captain! General!" They both exclaimed.

Hawkeye put Hayate down and tried to find a breath. "What did you guys do?" She walked over to her desk and looked at the papers everywhere. "What-what happened here?"

Mustang put his finger to his lips, letting them know to stay quiet. "Hey, Riza, we can deal with this another day. Why don't we all come into my office, and we can commence the day's activities."

She looked at him and shook her head. "No, I need to do this. It's the only way that I'll be able to keep a sane mind today." She took a deep breath and started to look through the different papers. "Fuery, I want you to sort through these and make some basic stacks. Havoc, make sure that like papers are either stapled or paper-clipped together. And Falman, please, make sure that all of the files are labelled."

Mustang put a hand on her shoulder. "What does that leave you to do?" He asked.

She put her hands on her sides and bit her lip. She looked over at him. "I'm going to help sort these papers out. I can't just sit around and do nothing while I have everyone else work." She grabbed a few papers which obviously needed to be put together. She opened a drawer at her desk and received a paperclip to attach to them.

Mustang stepped back and walked towards his office. He knew that he couldn't do much with any of that. He had no idea how any of the paperwork was filed in the office. Though, he was glad that it was getting done. It was something that Hawkeye was in charge of, and if she was doing her job, then it meant she was taking a step closer to getting better.

He walked into his office and looked around. It looked pretty untouched compared to the last time that he saw it, granted that was a long time ago. He walked over to his desk and put a hand on his name plate. He looked around the desk before sitting in the chair. He opened one of the drawers where he normally kept his pens, but there was something on top of them. It was a piece of paper that was folded up.

 _Dear General Mustang,_

 _I'm hoping by the time you read this paper that we've gotten the Philosopher's Stone back and were able to restore your vision before we got back to Central because it would be really embarrassing if I had to read this to you. Depending on how this adventure goes down, and if you get your promotion to Fuhrer, I'm thinking about stepping down from my position. Hopefully, we'll be in a time of peace after this mission, and I won't be needed. Just because I won't be in the military, doesn't mean I won't be watching your back. You are always going to be my first priority, but I also need to look after me. I joined the military to look after you, and I will continue doing it, even once I'm out of the military. If I decide that I don't want to leave, then you'll probably never see this, but know that there's a chance that I could have forgotten about this letter. I'm rambling. Sir, we have worked together for a long time, and I may just need an extended vacation away from Central and away from all of this stress temporarily, if not permanently. I love you, and I would do anything for you. But I also need to love me._

 _Yours Truly,_

 _Your Queen._

Mustang was at a shock the more that he read the letter. He read it multiple times to make sure that he was reading it right. He couldn't blame her for wanting to get out of this mess. He knew from the beginning that this wasn't what she wanted to do with her life. He folded the letter back up and shoved it to the back of the drawer. He had no idea if she remembered the letter or even if it still was true to her.

He was going to wait until she brought it up to talk it over. There was no need in worrying about it now, while she was busy organizing his paperwork. He closed the drawer after grabbing a pen and opened a different one. He pulled out a notepad and set it and the pen on his desk so he could take notes when they all got together.

There was a knock on the door before Havoc walked in and closed the door behind him. He walked over and sat in front of the desk.

"I'm sorry that I almost blew your op," He apologized. "I wish I would have known, but I understand that it was for the best that I didn't know."

Mustang chuckled. "It's okay, Havoc. Well, it's okay to me; I'm sure that the Captain would say otherwise." He nodded to the door. "How's she doing anyway? I'm glad to see her wanting to do some aspect of her job again."

"Yeah, I'd say that," he laughed. "She's kind of crazy, but nothing out of the normal for her. She seemed to snapped back into her normal self as soon as she walked in the room. I'm almost glad that the room was left in a mess for when she got here."

"That's what I was hoping for," he sighed. "Who left that mess anyway? I know I'm not a role model of organization or anything, but I don't want that to become a regular thing, for my sake and hers."

Havoc nodded. "Duly noted."

There was another knock on the door before the door swung open. Both Mustang and Havoc stood up. Hawkeye walked in, leaving the door open. Breda was standing in the door with his hand still up like he was knocking. Fuery stepped around him to come in as well. They all collapsed on the couches in front of Mustang's desk.

"Shall we get started?" Havoc asked, looking over at Mustang.

He nodded curtly and walked over to the couches. He sat down next to Hawkeye, where he could see that, even though her hand was flat on the couch, it was shaking. He crossed his legs to that the others couldn't see him hold her hand. She squeezed his hand slightly in return.

"So, who are you dating now, Havoc?" Falman laughed.

Havoc shook his head. "No one currently. My last one didn't really work out."

"Aw, what happened? She seemed so nice." Hawkeye said. "What was her name? Stacey, right?"

Havoc nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, she was nice, but after we left this party, she was hell bent on becoming just like these two that we met, Aden and Elizabeth, and she was pretty crazy." He winked at Hawkeye and Mustang.

"That's a shame," Mustang chuckled. "Whoever those two are, I'm sure they are really sorry for ruining your relationship."

Havoc laughed. "It's no matter. I was probably going to end it anyway. Even beforehand, she was way too into the future instead of focusing on the present."

Mustang squeezed Hawkeye's hand and rubbed his thumbs over the top of her fingers. She looked over at him and gave him a small smile. It was a smile that he hadn't seen in a while. Most people wouldn't read it as a smile because it looked like a less harsh version of her usual expression. But he knew it was a smile.

"I hope Black Hayate was a good dog while I was gone," Hawkeye said to Fuery and Falman while still making eye contact with Mustang. Black Hayate looked up from the floor that he was laying on when he heard his name. "I know he can get kind of restless if I'm away from him for a long time."

Fuery laughed and waved his hand. "It was no problem whatsoever." Black Hayate jumped up into his lap. "He's a pretty easy dog to care for. It took him a while to get used to seeing me every day instead of you, but I knew he missed you."

Hawkeye nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."

There was a long awkward silence before Breda cleared his throat and tossed a file down onto the coffee table. A picture slid out which showed a building in Central that had been burned to the ground. Hawkeye opened the file to see more pictures of burned down buildings. One of them was her old favorite cupcake shop. Upon further inspection, she noticed that one of them was an apartment building that was on the other side of her complex.

"When did this happen?" Hawkeye asked with worry.

"The day we rescued you two from that bunker," Havoc chimed in. "The date is on the back of all of the photographs. The filed papers are all in date order, so that makes it a little easier, just like you have always told me, but I never listened to, Captain."

She nodded and focused on the photos. They all had connections to them. The bakery and the apartment connected to her, the bar was Mustang's favorite, the shop was where Havoc got all of his cigarettes because they were apparently the only ones that sold them, and the tech shop was where Fuery got all of his stuff. It was only a matter of time before the other two got something burned in their honor.

"This wasn't an attack on Central," she said to them. "This was a message for us to stop."

Mustang raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Hawkeye knelt onto the ground and spread out the photos date up. "These are all the same days something happened to us, General." She pointed to the second earliest one. "This is the day that we were attacked on the train. This one happened the day we were ambushed in Liore. And this one happened when we were released."

"What about the first one?" Falman asked.

Mustang rubbed his chin. "I don't even think anything happened that day. We had already travelled for the mission. We ran into Al that day, I think, but I don't remember anything bad."

Hawkeye thought about it for a moment before standing up. "We did do more, though. We visited Doctor Jiang. She said she had seen the person that stole the philosopher's stone from Marcoh. It was our first real lead in the case."

"Are you saying that this had something to do with Jiang?"

She shrugged and sat back down. "I-I don't know." She ran her hands through her short hair and held onto it. "I can't s-say for s-sure." Her breathing started to get shorter and shorter.

Mustang wrapped his arms around her, almost instinctually. He pulled her closer to his chest. He knew that this was a quick way to get her panic attack to come to an end. He had learned that in their time together after being rescued.

"It's time to take a break," Mustang said. "Havoc, why don't you get started making lunch. I'm sure everyone could use some food right now."

When everyone left the room, Mustang laid back on the couch, still holding Hawkeye. She buried her face into his chest. She felt horrible for having a break down while making a break through. How was she going to deal with the real world when she couldn't even deal with pictures of the destruction that she could have possibly caused.

"Hey, it's going to be okay, Riza," Roy whispered. "I promise. I'm right here. I'm always here."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! I'm actually getting excited about what is to come, so I'm hoping that these chapters will come out sooner. Happy reading!**

* * *

Hawkeye walked out of the bathroom and down the hall back to the office room. The boys had continued talking while she was calming down. She had taken a long moment to look in the mirror to readjust herself.

While she was on the way to the offices, she saw Alphonse. He seemed to be a little upset over something. Even though she hadn't seen Ed in a while, she knew that they both had aged so much over the years. Especially since Alphonse hadn't had a body for years, it aged quickly, which was a strange experience.

"Hey, Alphonse," Hawkeye said. "How's it going?"

He shrugged. "I just got off the phone with Ed. He was supposed to be coming back to Central tomorrow, but apparently, he's having some issues that is making it to where he can't come home for another week at the latest."

She pursed her lips and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he'd be home if he could. Why would he be coming here, though? I would have thought that he would go home if anything."

Al nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I know that Winry would really want to see him too, but I'm the one that asked him to come. I have something for him."

Hawkeye gave him a soft look. She could tell that he had a lot on his mind, which was why his thoughts weren't cohesively coming together. She knew how that was. There was an 87% chance that that was exactly how she was, too, just in a more visible way.

"How's the meeting going?" he asked.

She took a deep breath. "We're actually being really productive, which is better than I thought we'd be. I figured I'd be a mess on the floor at this point," she joked, but it wasn't really a joke. "I needed a moment before I could get back in the heat of things. We're coming up with some sort of plan."

"Let me know if I can help," he told her before walking away.

Hawkeye stayed still in the hallway, looking around to find something to distract her. She dreaded going back into that room. She was fine just discussing what had happened in the mess of it all. She was fine recounting what happened for the twentieth time since they had been rescued. She was fine discussing what her mental health was doing to her physically.

She was not fine talking about what to do next.

Next was her getting back out there. Next was Mustang risking his life for her. Next was an uncertain measure that she didn't think she could take, but there was no way that this mission was going to get completed without her. The only reason that Mustang was still alive was because of her and vice versa. Without the other, they would crumble.

She knew that he wasn't back to 100%. She knew he was still having issues. She knew she needed to push through hers so that he could push through his, but there almost seemed no point. She was afraid that everything would go back to how it was in their prison. She was afraid of being alone with no one to lean on.

She truly depended on him. She always had. It was because of that dependence that she was able to promise him so easily that she had his back. She had no other choice. She knew no one else could do a better job at making sure that he was alive and sane than she could.

A warm hand holding her own pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see brown eyes triaging her mental state. She looked up to see a soft smile which made her inner voices relax. She looked up to see that she didn't need to worry about anything for the moment. He was here with her.

"Hey," he said in a quiet voice. "I missed you in there. Talk to me."

His comforting voice almost sounded like a command. She hadn't really talked a lot about her thought processes when her mind was everywhere. Come to think of it, Mustang never really asked her to talk about it, but he always listened when she wanted to. Though, this train of thought was a little different than her usual ones. Instead of just dreading the past, now she was having to fear the future. Maybe that's why it was so different to him.

"Talking about what to do next was a little too much for me," she explained. "I think I'm okay now. I talked to Al for a little bit. Though, I don't know who was the more concerned one of the two of us," she joked lightly before making eye contact with him again. "I think I'm just afraid of what could happen. I thought that the mission was going to be quick and easy, but that's practically the opposite of what happened. I'm a mess."

He chuckled. "For the record, you've always been a mess. Do you remember the first birthday of yours that I was there for? I was surprised that your father ever let me in the house again."

She remembered what he was referring to. He had gotten her a small gift to say thanks for all of the walks that she had taken with him. It was one of the books that she had told him that her father used to read to her, but the book had disappeared somewhere along all of her father's research.

They had started to alternate nights. One night they would take a walk, and the next night they would read a story together. This night was a walking night, but she really wanted to read the book. They came to the conclusion that they would read it as they took a walk. He was just glad that she liked the present. A lot of times, when he did something for her that either related to her father or somehow correlated to her mother's passing, she would shut him out for a few days until he could make her laugh hard enough that she'd forget whatever he did.

This night, though, was perfect for their little walk. It wasn't too cold or too warm, and the stars lit up the night just perfectly. They were outside the house somewhere in the backyard walking, while she held the book and, for once, was reading to him. She gave the characters in the book so many quirky voices, he could only assume that it was how it was read to her. He appreciated it a lot more thinking of it that way.

Riza appreciated him too. Even though they had their differences, she knew that he really tried to make sure that whatever this relationship was between them worked. He never faltered from his studies, but he never faltered from being her best friend.

Suddenly, while she was caught up in her thoughts and the words on the paper, she yelped as her foot slid in a small hole in the ground. The loose dirt made it easy for her weight to be a disadvantage. The dirt was up to her mid-calf, and it was near impossible for her to pull herself up at the angle she was at.

She wanted to kill Roy as he laughed at her. She swore that she had never heard him laugh so hard in his life. While it was kind of funny, she was not in the mood to be laughed at.

"Roy, get me out of here," she held up a hand to him.

He grabbed onto her hand, still laughing, and pulled her up. In a type of revenge, once she was in a position where she could find a footing, she let go of his hand, causing him to fall. She didn't let go quickly enough, since he still had the time to grab her hand again and pull her down with him. She landed on him with a _thud._

"Hey, what was that for?" She said with a playful snarl.

But then she heard her father's voice.

Hawkeye smiled a bit at Mustang and nodded. "Yeah, I remember. I remember all of the chores that I had to do around the house so that I'd stay busy enough not to hang around you anymore."

Keeping his hand still on hers, Mustang put his hand on her side and used it to pull her a little closer to him. "You still managed to do alright and take a few more midnight strolls with me didn't you?" He continued when she nodded. "Think of this like that. I know it isn't, but just go with it for me. You were doing something that you thought was the right thing to do, and something got messed up along the way. Just like you continued to walk with me, I know that you can push through and continue with this mission." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "This is your mission, The Elizabeth Project, and I'll be damned if I see such a good case name go to waste."

There were a few moments of pure silence before she squeezed his hand back. She let everything he said settle in even the darkest corners of her mind. Mustang was right. She needed to push through this.

"Before we go home, can we go out to eat?" She asked him in a quiet voice, since she was still processing everything. She needed to take this leap of faith with him. "I think I can do this. I need to try."

Hawkeye was confused for a moment when he looked around the halls before he replied. But instead of replying with a yes or a no, he used the hand on her side to pull her against him. He hadn't really touched her in anything more than a platonic way since they had gotten back. She knew he wasn't for her sake, but none of that really scarred her. It caused her initial mental fall, but it mostly just made her head worry about more than it needed to. The way _he_ undesirably touched her, just made her long for a touch that she never knew if she was ever going to feel again. But here it was, right in front of her.

Before she could protest, even though she really didn't want to, Mustang put his lips against hers in an eager kiss. They hadn't shared a kiss like this since they were in New Optain. So many things had changed since then. They both knew that they couldn't keep this up. No matter how much they wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon just the two of them right here in this hallway, kissing like they never had, there were other people in this building. People who would love an opportunity to see this.

Just like he was the one to pull her in, he was also the one that pulled away. Without opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and hugged him tightly. This was okay. This was always okay.

"I love you so much," Mustang whispered in her ear as he hugged her back. He thought back to the letter he had found from her in his desk. He figured when she said that she loved him that it wasn't in that way, but he had been meaning to say it for so long. It felt so right to let her know. "I'd be happy to relieve you of your position once we're done with this mission. I'm sure you need the biggest break after all of this."

She shivered a little in his arms, and he didn't know if that was in response to the first part of what he said or the latter. He held her a little tighter, not wanting to let go. He was a little concerned with her silence, but knew that it wasn't out of the ordinary.

Before she replied, if she was even going to, Havoc called from down the hall. He couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but he knew if Havoc turned the corner and saw them like this, that he was never going to let it go.

Mustang pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before letting her go. She didn't look at him when she stepped back, and there was a small pang that hurt his heart. He lifted her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

He soon realized that she had been shivering because she was holding back tears, and he could see it in her eyes. The hurt he felt disappeared as he slowly sat down with her on the floor. He held her close to him in his arms. Let Havoc think whatever he wanted to. Her feelings came first.

Hearing that Mustang loved her mostly confused Hawkeye more than anything. She knew that he did. There was no doubt anywhere in her mind of anything else. She was confused of how she should react. She was extremely happy to hear the words, but solidifying his feelings for her and her feelings for him just made this mission to end everything so that the world could be peaceful mean that much more. It meant that there was an added motive to end it all.

It meant that she had that much more to be scared over.

She heard Havoc approach, but she had no words in her that she wanted him to hear. As good of a friend as he was, there were just some moments that he didn't need to hear every word of. This was definitely one of them.

But he never actually came up to them. She assumed that Mustang waved him away with some gesture. She knew that he wanted this privacy too.

"I remember the first time that I saw you in Ishbal," he said in a low voice. "I was shocked that after everything you had also joined the military, but I was also in such awe of the strength that that must have taken. I could see that you had put up barriers and walls just so that you could appear as strong as I already knew you were. No one else there was going to know just how much strength it took for you to enlist, much less actually make it into the military." He moved his hand so that it was holding one of the one's clutching his arm. He used that arm to press her against him, her back against his front.

"I remember the first time you asked me to burn your back," he continued in his deep, gravelly voice. "I thought you were crazy. I already knew you were, but this was a whole new level. When I finally accepted your offer to get rid of the research, I was so amazed that you got through all of it without even batting an eye. I knew you were strong, but geez, Riza, you really threw me for a loop.

"I remember when you thought that Lust had killed me," his voice dropped to a whisper. "I remember seeing how devastated you were as you emptied your clip. I could feel every emotion that you were feeling as it filled the room. I remember the look on your face when I stepped into the room. You were so strong while also seeming so defeated. I don't think any of these other guys would have emptied their chamber even once just by hearing that I was dead. I knew then that I made the best decision that I ever could make by making you my right hand man. I knew that you really always had my back- not that I ever doubted you."

He stopped his story when he thought he heard her laughing. She leaned her head back against his shoulder as she chuckled.

"When I saw you, with anger all in your face and your side cauterized in a gross manner, I remember thinking to myself, 'Shit, now I'll have to go through this all over again later,'" Hawkeye told him. "Little did I know that I was going to be the one potentially on the chopping block."

"That day was a nightmare, literally," Mustang said. "I couldn't stop dreaming about it until the first day that you started staying with me overnight in the hospital. I felt so bad about you in the other room, injured from something you had no part in."

"That was my part in it all," she told him. "It could have only been me."

He pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "There's an empty conference room just down the hall if you'd rather go there, instead of just lying here in the middle of the hallway."

She looked over at him. "What about the meeting with the rest of them? Don't we need to finish that first?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "We've established that we're just going to wait until they make a move, considering how we still don't really know anything. It just seems like the safest option."

Hawkeye nodded and moved off of him. She stood up and offered a hand out to him. He took it and stood up as well. She would much rather stay on the floor and be comfortable with him, but she knew it would be better if they moved to the conference room.

Hand in hand, they walked to the conference room that was just down the hall. Mustang pulled open the large wooden door and let her walk in first before letting it fall closed. She took a look around the room. It had been a while since she had given a presentation or sat through one in one of the conference rooms here. She was going to have to once this thing was done.

Mustang locked the door before walking over to her. He was never going to get tired of seeing her now that he had his sight back. In his eyes, she was the only thing worth seeing. He took her hand and pulled her over to one of the couches near the side of the room. They both needed a break from talking about what was to come. He just wanted to talk about her for a bit.

He sat down on the couch and kept his arm out as an invitation for her to lean on him like she had in the hallway, which she did. He held her close and waited for her to speak first. He just wanted to enjoy a moment of piece with his favorite Captain. Something happened in between her leaving the meeting and this moment that changed her aura. She seemed better, even if just slightly.

"So you got my letter," she said in a quiet voice. He couldn't tell if she was happy or sad about it.

Mustang nodded and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I did," he told her as he rested his chin on her shoulder. "I don't blame you. Even before all of this that happened, I don't blame you. The military wasn't and still isn't you."

Hawkeye shrugged. She honestly wanted out then because she didn't know what else she could do in the military that would be beneficial for her. Sure, they would have some issues every now and then, but the Ishbalan conflict was pretty much resolved, and the homunculi were gone. That didn't mean that she wouldn't ever come back if she needed to. She just wanted to try something different.

"The military doesn't change because of one person," he continued. "Yet, it sure as hell doesn't have an issue changing people. I know I'm not the same person that I was when I was under your father's training. So much has happened since then." He spoke into her neck, making her shudder from the sudden warmth. "I think you're the only person that I've seen stay unchanged. Even with these last few weeks with your mental struggle, you have managed to stay you. Just more of what's in here has come out." He put his hand over her heart and kept it there.

She leaned her head back onto the couch, away from his head. "I don't know if that's true. I certainly changed before I enlisted so that I could make sure that I could do it, since I had to do it." She put her hand over his that was on her chest. "This has always been what guided my actions. I just built up so many walls that no one could tell."

There was another silence that fell over them. They both wanted this silence. It felt right. There were so many things to say that not saying them made them that much more valuable. They could talk about their pasts all day. They had before. Yet, now, they both wanted so much more than that.

"I love you, Riza," the words escaped from his lips, killing the silence. "I always have, but I don't think I knew what these feelings were until two weeks ago. Even way back then, when I thought I was going to lose you, I knew I loved you, but it didn't hit me as that emotion. All I have ever really known is loss and lust, and it wasn't until I saw you, the first time I could see after everything. You barely had any clothes on, and you had cuts all over you. I could only imagine what had happened in our time apart." He took a deep breath. "I hurt for you. I was mad- no, I was angry. But during it all, the only thing in my mind was 'How could they do this to the woman I love?'"

Riza closed her eyes, trying to avoid saying it back, even though she did love him with all of her heart. "I don't even know how many times it happened. There came a moment when I realized it wasn't the first time, and from them on, I could remember. I didn't need to remember the details of what happened because my body remembered for me. Time moved so differently, and all I could sense was his hands on me." She shivered just at the thought. "They just kept telling me that if I didn't resist or if I cooperated, then you'd be given a lesser treatment. I couldn't imagine what they were doing to you. You were always gone for so long, and my mind just-"

"We don't have to think about what happened then," he told her. "We are here in Central. We are safe, and we don't have to worry about anything right now."

She nodded slightly and clutched the hand that was over her heart. She was extremely grateful for all of the things that he had done for her in her life. Just being with him now and allowing there to be a silence which separated them from the world, made her love him that much more.

"Thank you, Roy," she said as she looked over at him. He was already watching her, and their eyes met. "I don't know where I'd be if you weren't so stubborn and insisted that you come along with me."

Roy gave a small smirk. "You'd be either breaking my heart or stressing it out. I'm glad that you aren't doing that."

Riza moved her hand off of his and put it on his chest. Even through all of the skin and muscle, she could still feel his heart beat. It wasn't relatively fast, but she could feel the beat picking up pace. She knew hers was too. Anytime he was close to her like this her heart would race. She never knew what to expect, but in this moment, she was glad that there were no expectations.

He took the opportunity of them being in such close quarters to really hold her close as he kissed her cheek, making his way towards her ear. She caught on to what was happening and tilted her head away so he could do whatever he wanted. They didn't have many intimate moments like this, whether it was before he joined the military or during their mission. Their make-out sessions usually just stuck to that. It was never much about pleasure for each other but usually a want to pleasure themselves.

There had only been one other time that they came close to anything other than either a platonic kiss or a short, but romantic, make-out session. It was a little after the first time that they had a more than platonic kiss. They had grown so close that it was easy to do something either flirty or romantic and consider it platonic. But they definitely had their moments where it was anything but platonic.

It was one night after dinner, she was picking out a new book to read, since they had finished the one the night before. He had just finished cleaning the dishes. It was in the winter time, and their sky light window had broken, so the house was usually chilly. His wet hands because especially cold in the wind that blew through the house.

Roy walked up behind her and slipped his hands just barely under her shirt, but enough for his hands to be completely on her sides. Riza yelped, dropping the book she had in her hands. She tried to push his hands off of her.

"Your hands are freezing!" She cried out. "Get them off of me!"

He smirked and moved his hands higher up her shirt. She squirmed in his grasp, pushing back against him. He continued to move his hands up her shirt. He wasn't going to be doing anything inappropriate, but he felt like he had the room to tease. If she really didn't want him to, she would say something.

The only reason he felt comfortable doing this in her father's home was because he was out of town. Roy assumed it was for research reasons, but he never said. He also never said when he was getting back, but since he had left that afternoon, he felt confident that he had the time for this.

"Roy Mustang!" She said with a laugh. His hands weren't cold any longer, but she'd keep up the façade. "Unhand me!"

As he moved his hands higher, it came to his attention that she wasn't wearing the bra he could have sworn she was wearing at dinner before her father left. He knew that she purposely did this for him. He knew that she wanted this too.

"What are you going to do if I don't?" He whispered to the back of her ear as his thumb traced the curve beneath her breast. He could feel her breaths getting sharper. "I don't think you have the will to stop me."

She continued to push back against him until he hit the wall. He took the opportunity of the sudden force against his back to push his hands onto her breasts entirely. He could feel her start to melt almost as he massaged her chest. She had stifled a moan as he rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, but eventually, she did, letting him know that whatever he was doing was good.

Just thinking about that day aroused him, even now. Right now, the timing probably wasn't appropriate, but as they sat on the couch in the conference room, he couldn't help but gently bite her earlobe as she pressed up against him. Getting aroused wasn't going to be something that he could avoid if she kept this up.

Roy stopped messing with her earlobe and leaned back. He smiled at her and continued to hold her close. It was for the best that nothing got started up here since they still had to go talk to people who would definitely know.

Riza moved over to the other side of the couch, much to his disappointment. She winked at him and held out her hand to him. She was going to make this work. She was determined to make sure that she could be okay once they left this room. She could do it.

He took her hand and laughed as she pulled him over to her. He laid his head on her chest and smiled. There was a lot he could do in this position.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him to her. She liked this, feeling like she wasn't the one needing to be held. It was a sense of power that she hadn't felt in a while. She ran a hand through his hair and grabbed a fist full of it, pulling back slightly so he'd look back up at her.

"I love you too, Roy."


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Thanks for all of the positive feedback over the last few chapters and putting up with my random lengths between updates. I was really wanting to get back into it with this fanfic, so I got this chapter done ASAP for you guys. Thanks to you guys, I have the will to keep this story up.**

* * *

Hawkeye jumped over the wall and ran down the road. It was so late in the evening that it was impossible to see what was there. She was practically hoping that she wasn't going to run into anything. She was headed to where she could see some light in the distance. That would be where Command Central was and generally where her apartment was. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of her boots hitting the pavement.

The air was cold around her, but running gave her a fire that made it so the temperature didn't matter. She took a deep breath of the cold air as she pushed forward, trying to find the alleyway that led to the closest connection to her street. Once she identified it by the burned down cupcake shop, she turned down the alley.

She used her momentum and a small stack of tires to jump up and grabbed onto the fire escape ladder. Using the strength in her arms, she pulled herself up onto the ladder so that she could climb up to the platform. From there, she made her way up the stairs and onto the roof. She ran to the other side of the roof and paused to take a few deep breaths.

She put her finger to her ear piece. "Where are you?" She said with a gruff voice. She looked back at where the fire escape was. "I'm not running this show on my own."

Before she heard a reply through her ear piece, she heard a loud noise coming from the fire escape. She took a few steps back before running off of the roof. She landed on the roof of the building next door by rolling forward. She continued running and jumping down to the next roof, which was on a one story building.

She looked back and saw the silhouette of the person that made all of that noise standing on the first building. She wasn't sure that they had the guts to take a dive off of the building like she had. Since a lot of her work was done on rooves, there had been multiple times that she had to jump from extreme heights or take a dive from one roof to the next.

"Please don't kill yourself dropping off of those buildings," a voice said from her earpiece.

She looked over the ledge of the building that she was on. "I think you should know me better than that by now, General," she said back as she eyed a dumpster at the bottom of the building.

"Just be careful," Mustang said from her earpiece.

Hawkeye nodded. "Yes, sir," she said with a small salute before jumping off and landing in the dumpster. The force that she had when she landed, made the top of the dumpster close down, keeping her hidden inside.

She took a deep breath. This was a strange situation to be in. It certainly didn't smell all that well. She ran her hand through her short hair and wiped off her shirt. She was covered in dust that she had gathered from the old warehouse that she had exited before she had to jump over the half wall. She had to focus her thoughts on regulating her breathing so that the one following her wouldn't hear her.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud on top of the dumpster. Hawkeye looked up, unsure of what was going to happen next. Then, she heard some scuffling and footsteps walking away. She let out the breath that she didn't know that she was holding and stood up. She wasn't short enough to not have to crouch under the lid.

"Hawkeye, I lost you," Mustang said in her earpiece. "Please make good choices."

She pressed her finger to her earpiece. "I could say the same for you."

Hawkeye put her hands on the lid and pushed it up before pulling herself out of the dumpster. Once her feet hit the ground, she ran in the opposite direction that she heard the footsteps go. She was starting to feel the strain in her knees from all of her high jumps, but she knew she had to power through it.

Now, she was on one of the main roads that was lit. Her pants were dusty, and there were small spots where some sort of liquid got on her pants. The ankles of her boots were dripping, so she was glad that she had tied her boots up really tight.

She had a few blocks to go before she made it to her apartment. Once she was there, she was safe. The thing was that she had to make it there first. Her apartment was in a military complex, so no matter what happened before she got there, as long as she got there, everything would be fine.

Hawkeye slowed down to a stop to get an ear on her surroundings. She hadn't heard anything in a while, so she needed to stop her stomping so that she could hear if there was someone coming up behind her. Little did she know that there was.

Arms wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her side. She tried to push her arms out or pull them out of their grasp, but there was no give. She took a deep breath and tried to think of a way to get out of this.

"Why'd you stop?" Her assailant asked. "That was a large mistake."

She used their tight grip on her as an advantage and jumped up, placing her feet on their knees. This left them two choices: either let her go or they were going to keep her there. When she wasn't let go or dropped, she leaned back and bit their ear. They cried out and dropped her. She fell onto her knees and hissed. Before they could recover she kicked back and knocked their legs out from under them. She quickly got up and moved over them, pinning them down.

"I don't think that you should have underestimated me," Hawkeye said in a low, harsh voice. She laughed, almost evilly, and smiled. "Who was on the roof? Havoc?" She asked while rubbing her thumb along the ear that she bit.

Mustang laughed and coughed. "Yeah, I was in the warehouse, and I took a shortcut while Havoc was after you. I was just going to meet you at the gate, but since Havoc lost you, I had to improvise. He was supposed to lead you towards Falman."

She chuckled. "I jumped in the dumpster, and it closed over me. He didn't bother to look in it and just took off." She patted his chest. "I think I did pretty good."

He nodded and put his hands on her thighs. "Yeah, if you didn't stop, I probably wouldn't have caught up. You ran so loud, so there was no way that I wasn't going to be able to find you though."

Hawkeye nodded. "I figured you were at the end of all of this, and I really wanted to toss you around," she joked. "I think I did a good job." She leaned down and kissed his cheek.

Mustang squeezed her thighs. "Yeah?" He chuckled. "I may have a few sore spots that I'll need you to check out later." He winked at her. "You wanna head to Central to finish up at the office and then head home?"

They still were living together in Hawkeye's apartment ever since they got back. It had been a week since her last breakdown in the hallway of the Central Command. He was thankful that she was getting better, but he was rather worried about her new found process towards that progress.

It seemed that she had started to ignore whatever issues she was having. She seemed so avidly obsessed with getting it all over with that she had put it all in the back of her mind and ignored everything. She took evening runs every night, which wouldn't be concerning if she didn't also go for a morning run. She was a lot more forthcoming in her sexual advances towards Mustang, but he didn't feel just right yet acting upon anything. Being an outgoing person wasn't alarming. It was only concerning because that's how she was during the day, but as soon as she came home from her night run, she seemed so emotionless and unenergetic.

He wasn't going to get in the way of whatever helped her get better though. He cared about her, which was the only reason that he could tell that this side of her was a little off. He knew that he had done it a few times himself, so he really had no room to judge.

Hawkeye got off of him when she heard footsteps from a nearby alley. She helped Mustang up and dusted him off. He was covered in dust from the warehouse too. She felt a little bad for knocking him down to the ground, but she knew that he'd recover. It wasn't the first time that she had kicked him down.

"You got her," Havoc said as he emerged into the light. "Where'd you go off of that roof? Did you just go the other way?"

She took a bow and laughed. "Yeah, eventually. I was in the dumpster that you jumped down on." She placed her hands on her hips. "Creativity is key."

He ran a hand through his hair and lit a cigarette. "Well, good job," he said as he blew smoke out of his nose. "Alright, well, I'm going to head home. This was fun." He cleared his throat. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

Mustang held out a hand to him to shake it. "We're going to head back to the office and then do the same. It's definitely been a long day. Get some rest."

Havoc walked away, leaving Hawkeye and Mustang in the spotlight of a street lamp. Once Havoc was far enough away, he slipped his hand into hers and led her down the street. He looked over at her and let out a laugh from somewhere deep inside him. He just noticed that her hair was sticking up all over the place. Her bangs looked like they didn't know what gravity was. It was honestly kind of cute.

"What?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "What's so funny?"

Mustang stopped walking and put a hand on her cheek. "You," he said in a teasing way. "Your hair is all over the place. I think it's cute, but I can fix it for you if you want." He gave her a small, but reassuring smile.

She put a hand on her head and felt the hair that was sticking up. "I don't know if this is from the dumpster or just from running around," she said with a small laugh. "I think it'll be okay. I'm definitely taking a shower when we get back."

He nodded and fixed her bangs back down where they usually were. "Since we're heading back to Command, my place is closer. Would you rather just stay there?" He asked. "I wouldn't mind taking you back to your place before we go in, so that you can get dressed."

They started walking back to Central again. He wouldn't blame her if she said that she wanted to stay in her own place. It was familiar to her, and he was sure that the familiarity was helping with whatever was going on in her head.

"Yeah, okay," she said almost hesitantly. "We can do that."

He squeezed her hand, which led to her tightening her grip on his hand. It almost felt like that grip was the only thing keeping her planted on the ground. He took a deep breath before kissing her hand. He just wanted her to be okay. However she got there, all that mattered was that she was okay.

"Are you sure? I know this isn't the first time that you've stayed at my place, but that was planned," he asked for reassurance. "I just don't want to stress yourself out more than you can handle."

A low growl sounded from her. "I can handle some stress. I'm only staying at your place; it's not like I'm robbing a bank where I have to think about my decisions extremely carefully." There was some anger in her voice, and he wasn't extremely sure where it was coming from, but he figured that he must have pressed some button. "It makes sense that we should stay at your place since it's just down the street. I don't think it takes much thought."

Mustang nodded quickly. "I don't doubt any of that. I told you just last week how strong I think you are. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with it." He looked over at her to see that she was already looking at him. There was hurt in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Hawkeye cleared her throat. He could tell that there was a lot of stuff running through her mind. "I'm going to run to the office. I'll see you when you get there."

Before he could protest, she was already running away. He wasn't sure if it was from him or her thoughts or maybe a combination of them both. He knew running after her wasn't going to do anything. When she took her first night run, it was after they had dinner out among the town for the first time since everything happened. He offered to accompany her, but it seemed like when she was in the mood to run or wanted to, there was no voice in her head except her own, no matter how loud he was.

Hawkeye breathed heavily as she ran. She knew that this sudden urge to get out this energy was coming from a place from deep in her mind that was riddled with worry. Mustang had every right to be concerned about her. She had become a completely different person the day she decided that she was going to get over this. Though, according to him, she wasn't really getting over it; she was ignoring it all.

It was a pretty straight shot to the Capitol building. There was only one turn that they had to take to get there. It wasn't long before she had the building in her sights. Her boots pounded against the pavement as she ran. The wind was starting to pick up, and she could feel a shiver down her spine.

There was a moment of just pure peace within her. She almost forgot all of the buildings that surrounded her. She paid no attention to the impending storm, even as thunder rang through the clouds. She was one with the air around her, and that was all that mattered to her. This was why she ran. She ran for this moment of peace that she couldn't feel any other way.

Suddenly, that peace was taken from her.

Mustang looked up at the sky as thunder sounded. There wasn't a lot of light left in the sky to see how cloudy the skies were, but it was obvious that there was going to be a storm soon. He knew that was going to render him useless, but he was glad that he hadn't needed to use any of his flame alchemy as a form of defense in a while.

Until he heard the scream.

He had heard that scream only a handful of times before, but he was still able to identify the person behind it. He nearly stopped in his tracks before he ran off towards Central. He didn't know what to expect once he turned the corner. He just hoped that he wasn't too late. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if his comments that upset her were what got her in trouble. He ran down the street and turned down the road to Central. When he saw her, he was happy to see that she was trying to hold her own, but he was still concerned.

Hawkeye's eye twitched as she came down from the electric shock that she had just endured. She was having trouble focusing on what was happening around her because of it. She knew that she had a knife to her throat, and she had the mental capacity to hold on to their arm, trying to pull it away. Though, her mind was not fully there, so she had no real pull on the arm. Suddenly, there was another shock against her back. She fell to the ground.

Mustang raised a hand and shot a ball of fire towards the person that had attacked Hawkeye as he ran closer. Whoever they were dodged the fire and held out the knife, raising a hand to tell him to stop.

He slowed down to a leisurely walk. "What do you want from her?" He asked them, wanting to make it perfectly clear that they were in the wrong. This was his job, stopping bad guys. A robbery was nothing to him.

"I don't know," they stammered. The voice was muffled. He couldn't make out whether they were male or female in the way that the light hit their masked face. "I thought I would figure that out when I got there."

He growled. "Get out of here," he hissed to them. "I don't want to see you doing this on my street again. I will have you locked up for a long time."

They bowed. "Thank you, sir," they said before shuffling away.

Mustang knelt down next to Hawkeye and held her up. She was conscious, but she was having trouble focusing on anything. He took a deep breath and watched her. He had no idea what happened to make her this way, and that fact alone made him more concerned than he was already.

"Talk to me, Hawkeye," he said in a hushed, but concerned, voice.

She let out a breath. She was struggling to gain control of her body. The first shock mostly disoriented her, but the second shock was closer to her spine, which made it affect her whole body. She looked up at him, trying to convey that she was mostly okay. She just needed for everything to be able to move.

He released a large breath when he heard her groan. He was still extremely concerned with what all was going on with her. She was just starting to improve after everything that happened, and now, this was happening, whatever this was. He had no idea how or when she was going to recover from this trance, but he knew he would stay with her until she did. She was his right hand man. She was there the whole time that she was blind, or really anytime that he was stuck in the hospital. He was going to do the same for her now.

Hawkeye started to feel her upper body again. She still could barely move, but at least there was feeling there. She rolled her shoulder that was against his chest. That was all that she could really do.

Mustang held her even closer to him and pressed his forehead against hers. "I shouldn't have let you run off, or I at least should have run after you," he said to her. "I don't know what I would do if that went bad. I don't even know what happened, and I was right there."

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. The progress was slowly but surely. There was a lot more that happened than met the eyes, and she had no idea how to convey that to him.

"Let's get you home," he told her. He picked her up in his arms and stood. "We'll figure it out soon enough."

 **XXX**

Roy woke up early in the morning before the sun was even up. He awoke, clutching the front of Riza's shirt and his face pressed into her shoulder blade. Usually she was the one pressed into him in their sleep, but now, he was the one all over her. He was still concerned over her well-being, but before they had gotten into bed, she was able to stand on her own. He took a deep breath before letting go of her shirt and adjusting his position. He made sure not to wake her in the process.

He put the tip of his nose against her ear and took a deep breath. If he could live in this moment forever, he would. She had been his best friend for so many years; he had no idea that it would ever get to do something like this, well, he always hoped. He pulled her closer to him, savoring her body heat against him.

Riza shifted around, still asleep, but almost like she was pressing her butt against him on purpose, which she had done a few times they had laid down together like this. He smiled softly and kissed her neck, behind her ear. She was always so precious in her sleep. Not that she wasn't while she was awake, but it was almost like she was another person. She was so soft when she was in a personal setting compared to her hard, blocked off self that she usually was.

She took a deep breath and looked back at him, her eyes still partially glazed over from sleep. He loosened his hold on her and rubbed her stomach with his thumb. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she still couldn't speak. He nodded and kissed her shoulder.

Roy looked over at the clock on the nightstand on her side of the bed. They had a few hours before they had to go into the office. He looked back over at her, and she had her eyes closed. He tapped his fingers against her stomach.

"Do you want to take a shower before we have to go in to work?" He asked Riza, not knowing if she was even feeling up to going into the office.

She nodded and sat up on the bed. She looked over at him and held her hand out to him. She was extremely frustrated that she couldn't speak to get her thoughts across, but she figured that they had enough of a connection to where that didn't matter. She thought that he could read her and her mind at any given moment. He probably knew her better than she did.

Roy laughed softly. "You want me to come with you?" He questioned. He was more than willing, but he wanted to make sure that was what she wanted. "I don't know how productive that shower will be."

Riza tried to giggle. She pulled on his hand to make him sit up in the bed. He got up and smiled at her. He had lost his shirt before they went to bed, and she enjoyed feeling the warmth of him behind her while she scared about what was happening to her. Now, all she wanted to do was hold onto him and soak it all up.

She got out of bed and shakily stood up. She stumbled as she took her first step before falling on the floor. If she could, she would have laughed, but it just came out as a wheeze, which meant there was some progress with her vocal cords. She didn't even realize that Roy had moved over to her until she looked back at him.

She smiled and put her hands up to show that she was okay. She used his shoulder to stand up off of the floor. She was out of her dumpster pants and boots, so she stood in front of him in only her shirt and underwear. It wasn't the first time and she was sure that it wasn't going to be the last.

Riza held out her hand to Roy to help him get back up on his feet. He took her hand and stood up, holding on to her and pulling her close to him. He kept her hand in his and put his other on her side. He started to move her around in a slow circle, like they were dancing. They had only danced together once before, which was at Maes's wedding, and it was high time that they danced again.

"I wish I could hear what's going on in your head," he told her. "You need to get better soon because I will talk your ear off. If I don't have anyone to interrupt me, I can just talk for days and days and days and days…"

Riza put a hand over his mouth and smiled. She shook her head. She felt his tongue against her hand, and she pulled it back before she wiped her hand off on her shirt. He laughed before gripping her shirt with the hand on her waist. He started to pull her shirt off after taking his hand out of hers to grab the other side.

"You don't need this for your shower," Roy told her with a sly smile.

She raised her hands up and allowed him to take it off. Now, she was standing in front of him in her bra and underwear. He tossed her shirt to the floor and looked over her. She had a few scars from the wear and tear of their jobs over the years. He had his fair share of his, even though his were more quality than quantity. The scar that stood out most on her was the one that was along her neck. The one from her back no longer seemed like it didn't belong on her body.

Roy stepped closer to her before picking her up, placing his hands under her knees. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on. He spun her around, holding onto her tightly. A small squeal came out of her that was almost impossible to hear, but he heard it loud and clear.

He carried Riza into the bathroom and put her down. He turned the shower on before looking over at her. He kissed her cheek and winked at her.

"As much as I want to join you, I know you need this time to yourself," he said softly. "I'll have breakfast waiting for you when you get out." He walked out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out; I've had half of it written since I published the last one, but never got around to finishing it, so I made it longer to hopefully make up for my lack of remembering to write. Summer has been super busy. I hope you like this chapter, and please leave a review with constructive criticism or any ideas that you would like to maybe see pan out.**

* * *

Mustang left the Command Central building, walking with Fuhrer Grumman. The sun had started to set, but they had a lot to talk about before either of them could go home. It had been a few days since Hawkeye had been attacked on their way back to Central. She didn't remember much about the attack, but she remembered a purple glow. Since there wasn't a single identifying feature that either of them could think of, they had no idea if the attacker was a lone wolf or a part of the faction that they were up against.

Grumman wanted to go over a plan of action had the faction attacked in Central again. With the philosopher's stone in their hands, there wasn't a whole lot that they couldn't do. Amestris had to be prepared for whatever was going to happen next.

Mustang cleared his throat. "Riza has seemed to recover fully for the most part. Her reaction time is slowly increasing, which is good. She can talk again and walk without any aide again."

"She's a tough girl," the Fuhrer said. "Even when she was younger, she was never afraid to push through whatever she needed to improve." He put a hand on the General's shoulder. "I want to thank you for taking care of her throughout this mission, especially once you both returned home."

Mustang smiled subtly. "Honestly, sir, I think she's the one that took care of me. I was a bumbling mess through all of it, even after I regained my eyesight." He looked up at the first few stars that had started to appear in the night sky. "We still have much to do, so I'm going to make damn sure that we both make it out of this alive."

Grumman stopped in his steps to admire the sky as well. "You know, I still wish you would take that conviction and marry my granddaughter."

He blushed and looked at the Fuhrer with an alarmed look. This wasn't the first time that he had told him this, but it was still just as shocking every time. There was no way that it could happen because of the fraternization laws that were in place at the current moment. Mustang always believed that he would either get rid of the law or create exceptions to the rules if it was in his best interests. He knew that it wouldn't be fair to anyone else if he molded the law to only help him. The only one that he would change the law for would have been Riza.

He also knew that Grumman probably had no plans to change the law anytime soon, but he was very aware that both him and the captain were probably not going to leave the military anytime soon, especially if this faction kept causing trouble. She could threaten to leave as much as he wanted, but Mustang knew that as long as he was still a State Alchemist on his way to becoming the Fuhrer that she would continue to be by his side. He had also convinced himself that she would remain in the military after he gained the position of Fuhrer because no one could protect him like she could.

"Is that why it was your idea for us to be an engaged couple for our undercover identities?" Mustang asked him jokingly, but he was also genuinely concerned.

Grumman laughed and rubbed his moustache. "A man can dream," he teased. "I know it probably hasn't been easy for the two of you since you came back from New Optain. I can't even imagine what you guys went through. In all of my missions, I never went on one where someone that I loved was in harm's way. They tried to get my wife once, but we made sure that it never happened."

Mustang looked down at the ground before looking back up at him. "How can you ever ensure their protection? I'm not the only one that's built up plenty of enemies in the past. She's talked about maybe leaving after this mission is done, and I think that scares me of her safety more than having her stay with me here."

"There will always be a last mission," he said. "Sometimes people think a mission will be their last, and then it turns out to just be another mission in the pile. But sometimes people do have the one." He took a deep breath. "Even one day, I'll have a last mission, or maybe I've already had it, and I'm just stuck with the paper work. There will come a day.

"And Riza has to figure out what she wants. She never wanted to join the military in the first place because of her father. I know you studied under him, but I knew him in a different way. The military got to him in a different way than it gets to most. When he mastered flame alchemy, he wanted nothing more than to keep it to himself. He became a recluse. Since he was so hateful towards the military after that, he made sure that she never joined the military, even though she lacks alchemic abilities. She may feel conflicted now since she has a negative memory for the group. I wouldn't pressure her, though."

Mustang nodded. "Yeah, I remember his reaction when I told him that I was joining the military. It wasn't pleasant." He cleared his throat and turned to walk back to Command Central. "She's good at what she does. I don't think I'd be standing here if not for her."

Grumman nodded and stayed silent as they walked back to the building. They were both concerned for the Captain, as well as the well-being of Amestris. There was an unknown threat to the country, and they both hated feeling cooped up since they had no idea how to go about fixing anything. They had no leads on anything. Mustang had sent Havoc out the day before to go ask Dr. Jiang a few questions, but her assistant said that she was out of town on business. They had nothing else to go on.

"I have asked for some transfers to Central that way we can be prepared if something was to happen," Grumman mentioned. "I think, if they all go through, we should have upwards of 20 other State Alchemists watching the city."

"Good, good," Mustang replied. "We could always use some more hands on task anyway, alchemists or not. Some of our greatest allies have been people just armed with guns and their fists."

He nodded as they walked inside the building. "We've put Dr. Marcoh in protective custody with a guard, so once we get the stone, it can return to his possession and we won't have to worry about it getting taken again."

He tilted his head. "How's Marcoh taking it? He's been on the run for a while, and he's finally able to step into society."

Grumman shrugged and stayed silent for a moment as he looked around the entrance hall. He played with the end of his mustache before answering. "He's well. He likes to think that he could go into hiding again and do a better job than our guards are, but that's the doctor for you."

The general laughed. "Of course, of course." He ran a hand through his hair, messing up its usual form. "Is Full Metal coming down for our reinforcements? I'm interested to see his new mature life."

"Perhaps. I sent a message out to him. The younger one informed me that he's supposed to be coming here soon anyway," Grumman mentioned. "We'll see if he sticks around."

Mustang looked around before they reached the Grand Foyer of the building. They paused before looking down their corresponding hallways. Each looked nearly identical with their carpet patterns and wallpaper designs. The only difference between them was the cabinets and paintings that decorated the halls.

They both said their goodbyes and closed out their meeting before heading their own way. Mustang took a look at the paintings on the wall as he walked to his office. Most of them were strange, but depicted either great military powers or alchemic mysteries that only those who study it could really understand. Mustang really liked the one that was hanging on the wall right outside of his office. It was an abstract piece that apparently depicted a great war that happened before his time. It was mostly a smear of reds and yellows, but it was oddly calming. He looked at it when he needed time to himself to think.

He walked into his office and looked around at all of the desks that his subordinates were usually sitting at. It was late now, so everyone had gone home. Everyone except one of them. He walked into the room connected to his office that held his actual desk and the couches. He looked over and saw Hawkeye curled up on one of the couches, holding onto a folder with a few more either on the floor or the table in front of her. Her eyes were closed, and she had a bit of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Mustang smiled and walked over to his desk. He needed to finish some paperwork before he even tempted to wake her up. She needed her rest. She had had a rough couple of days. Once she recovered from the shock she had endured, she seemed even more focused on trying to figure out what was going on with the faction that they were facing. She barely even left the office, much less leave any of the files alone.

He sat down at his desk and pulled out a pad of paper. He started doodling on it. He knew he needed to get started on the paperwork, but his mind was not in the right place at the current moment. He wasn't much of an artist, but he liked to scratch something out when he needed to clear his mind. It never amounted to much.

After a few minutes, he pushed it aside and started on the paperwork. All it ever needed once it got to him was a few signatures before it was sent out to the fuhrer. One of the perks of being high up on the chain of command. All he ever had to do was make sure that the paperwork was correct.

He heard a small groan come from where Hawkeye laid on the couch. He smiled and looked over at her. She was still asleep, but she had moved to where the folder that was underneath her arm had dumped some papers onto the floor. He leaned back in his chair and observed her.

They had a discussion once Hawkeye could talk again about their feelings and what exactly they were supposed to do with them. It was a long talk, but it seemed like it ended well. No matter how much Grumman kept trying to get Mustang to marry his granddaughter, there was no way anything was going to happen to them until the laws were changed. And there was no guarantee that it would ever happen while the law still applied to the both of them. They couldn't pretend they were exempt from the law. They weren't special. They needed to stop while they were still ahead.

As he went to put his feet on his desk, she stirred from where she was laying on the couch before she sat up. He went back to his doodle that way he wouldn't disturb her before she was ready to talk after waking up. He chewed on the end of his pen as he watched her.

Hawkeye stretched and yawned as she sat up on the couch. She woke up because she had heard some shuffling in the room she was in. She wiped the small amount of drool off of her cheek and looked around her. She was surrounded by files and papers. She looked at her arm and saw an imprint of a photo that had been resting underneath her arm.

She looked down to the photo and saw the rest of the file laying on the floor. She began to pick it up while also straightening up the rest of the files around her. The last thing she needed right now was files to be out of place.

"Sleep well?" A dark voice said from the corner of the room. She jumped and dropped some of the files that were in her hands. She looked over and saw the general at his desk with his feet on it.

She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah, I guess," she muttered, picking up the files again before laying them on the table in front of her. "Just looking through nonsense again, trying to make something of it."

Mustang put his feet back on the floor and returned the pad of paper to his drawer. She watched him as he stood up and walked over to the table. He grabbed the files from the table and straightened them out in his hands.

"Ready to go?" He asked her. "It's late."

Hawkeye looked over at the window and saw that the stars had already appeared in the night sky. The last time she looked out the window, the sun was still up. How long had she been asleep?

"Yeah, I think so." She cleared her throat and stood up. "Your place or mine?"

Okay, so they hadn't exactly cut cold turkey with their emotional foreplay like they had discussed. It was hard. They managed not to be all over each other at the office and while they were alone, but they both weren't quite ready to be sleeping in separate beds quite yet. They tried night one, but eventually, she had a nightmare that she couldn't handle which led to a panic attack. That put an end to that quickly.

He put the files back on his desk before shoving his hands in his pockets. He shrugged. "My place is closer, but if you want to be in your bed, then we should go there."

She waved her hand. "Hayate is with Feury for the week, so I don't necessarily have to be at my place." She ran a hand through her short cut hair before shaking her head. She still hadn't really woken up quite yet.

Mustang nodded and gestured to the door with his elbow. "My place it is then." He chuckled. "We can come back and study the files tomorrow. These are staying here tonight, and you are getting some sleep." He raised a finger before she could say anything. "No protesting. I will handcuff you to the bed if I have to."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" She asked with a smirk.

He shook his head and walked to the door. "It's a promising threat if I even see you doing research when we get home," he teased. "I need sleep too, and I can't sleep if you don't sleep." He yawned to confirm what he was saying.

Hawkeye shook her head and followed him out of the door. "No, trust me. I need it," she said with a sigh. "I'm no good to even myself if I'm falling asleep on the files when the sun's still up."

Mustang nodded and watched her. She had started to retract back into her usual self. She was back to her tough-love kinda self, and it was actually kind of refreshing. Not that he didn't appreciate the love that she had given him the last few days, or hell the last month, it was just a different side of her. He always knew it was there because that was who she had been when they were younger, but she had hidden it behind walls once she joined the military. He always figured it was out of fear that it would create a weakness she couldn't handle. He still wasn't sure if that was the case, but the wall allowed her to not only do her job, but live a decently calm life, which she needed right now.

They left the office and started walking down the hall. While Mustang liked to appreciate the artwork in the halls, Hawkeye liked to follow the pattern on the carpets as she walked, following a straight line until it ended and following another one. Sometimes Mustang would purposefully bump her off of the path so she would either have to find a new line to follow or bump him back so that she could return to her line.

"Did you find anything new before you fell asleep?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "No, and if I knew where Dr. Jiang had gone off to, then I would love to question her on some things. She seems pretty knowledgeable on all of this stuff, and I think she could fill in some of the blanks." She sighed heavily. "It's the only lead I have, and I can't even do anything with it."

He took a deep breath and put a hand on her back. "Her assistant said she'd be back soon. We just have to make sure that we keep tabs on her when she gets back." He rubbed her back gently before returning his hand to his side. "You'll get your answers then."

As they walked outside, she nodded. "Yeah, I guess." She looked up at the sky. "I hate just sitting on my hands while the world is in risk of great terror."

Mustang shook his head. "You've done a lot of good to save the world for this case. You deserve to sit on your hands for a while." He nudged her gently. "Though I'm not sure it's comfortable, at least it's something for your hands to do."

She put her hands out in front of her and clenched them into tight fists. "There are much better things that I'd rather do with these hands."

He moved her hands back down to her sides. "Well, how about tomorrow we do some combat training? I could especially use it. I'm sure the rest of the team needs it too. We both have some anger and other emotions that we need to get out." He nodded to himself like it was a great idea. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind throwing a couple punches my way."

"Maybe not yours, but probably Havoc's," Hawkeye joked. "I've been meaning to finish up some personal things with him after he almost blew our cover."

"Go easy on the lad," Mustang teased. "He was just doing his job."

"I already went easy on him," she hissed. "Though, I'm sure your ass could use a good beating."

He laughed and nodded. They hadn't had a solid match of combat training since before he lost his vision. They tried while he was blind, but it didn't work out as a solo mission. He could use his alchemy without his vision, but his fists were a different story. He and Hawkeye had trained together as a team since, and it worked without fail maybe 95% of the time. Now, he had a chance to stretch his wings, and he couldn't wait to take it.

Once they reached his place, they both took a deep breath as they walked into the foyer. It was a relief to be in a place where they could relax and not have to worry about work. Mustang walked over to the kitchen counter, while Hawkeye collapsed on the couch. This time, though, she was sitting and not lying down.

Mustang grabbed two glasses out of the cupboard. He grabbed a bottle from the countertop and poured some of its brown content inside. After a long day at the office, there was nothing better than a glass of whiskey, even better with a pretty girl to enjoy it with. He brought the glasses over to the couch and handed one to Hawkeye before jumped over the back of the couch and sitting next to her.

Hawkeye touched her glass to his. "To a good night's sleep," she said with a heavy sigh.

He chuckled. "I can drink to that."

Within the next few moments of silence, they had both finished their glasses, and Mustang had poured himself another one. Hawkeye had pulled both her feet up onto the couch and rested her head against her knees. As Mustang watched her while he walked back to sit next to her, he could see her eyes start to drift close. He smiled as he sat next to her.

"I'm sure the bed is a lot comfier than this couch," he said playfully. "You already slept on a couch once today."

She gave a sleepy smile. "Yeah, I know." She shrugged. "I'm just not ready to go to bed yet. I'm sleepy, but I'm not tired." She looked up at his warm eyes. Everything about him was warm. "Do you know what I mean?"

Mustang nodded and finished his drink. He put the glass on the table and nodded to the bedroom door. He put a hand on her shin and another on her back. "Come on, we need to get to bed," he said in a low whisper. "You'll thank me in the morning after you get a decent night's sleep."

He winked at her before sliding his hand under her knee and picked her up off of the couch. Hawkeye rested her head against his shoulder as he carried her into the bedroom, gently kicking the door open. He hesitated before putting her down on the bed.

"Now, I'd help you change into your nightwear too, but I promised a pretty lady I'd keep my hands off," he joked. "I can't break a promise to a pretty lady."

She smiled. "No, don't break that promise." She kicked her feet off of the bed and took her shoes off. "That pretty lady might be very upset."

He walked towards the front of the bed and took his shirt off. "I have a feeling she might be okay with it more so than be upset. I can be very persuasive." He put a hand on his hip and ran his other hand through his hair. "I'm pretty gifted."

Hawkeye blushed. She hoped he didn't notice, but she was pretty sure he did. He seemed to know exactly what would make her face flush red. She put her hands over her face and leaned back against the pillow. As she did, she could feel him climb onto the bed. She peeked through her fingers and turned towards him.

"But a promise is a promise," he sighed.

Hawkeye sat up and took her bra off without removing her shirt, ignoring what he had just said. She tossed it to the floor and took a deep breath. Everything hurt just from being tired, but she didn't think that she'd be able to sleep at all. She got back off of the bed and walked over to the dresser across from the bed. She reached over and grabbed his white button up that he had been wearing and tossed it over her shoulder. She learned from experience that her usual black turtleneck wasn't extremely comfortable to sleep in.

Mustang watched as she disappeared with his shirt off into the bathroom. He unbuttoned his pants and tossed them to the side. The only thing he wanted more than this mission to be over was his head to be on the pillow. He was overtly exhausted. There were so many times that he tried to sleep while Hawkeye had been working on whatever files she thought could help the case, but he could never drift off to the land of slumber. While she had been determined in her time awake, he had merely drifted along, not entirely sure how to go about the land of the living.

When she walked back out, he moved over on the bed so that she could fit on. He laid down and pulled her close to him; her head laid on his chest. Her breathing quickly evened out as she fell asleep. The poor thing needed it just as much as he did. Once he knew she was asleep, he soon fell asleep as well.

 **XXX**

Hawkeye took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She rolled her shoulders and put her fists up near her jaw. She looked over the horizon that was created by her knuckles and was met with blue eyes. There was a long moment of silence before she released a small scream and threw the first punch. It felt good to let the negative energy out.

Havoc moved quickly out of the way and grabbed her arm. He moved to press it behind her, but before he could, she ducked down, tearing her arm from out of his grasp. She swung her leg out and knocked his out from under him, sending him to the ground. She heard the air as it left his lungs. She stood up and placed her foot on his chest.

"I thought you would have been a greater challenge, Havoc," Hawkeye said in a snarky tone.

Before she or anyone else could say something else, he grabbed her ankle and pulled her down to the ground too. As she groaned and tried to regain a straight vision, he climbed over her and pressed his knee gently into her sternum. He didn't want to hurt her; it was just to show that she was pinned down.

"Woah, hey, I think that's good," she heard Mustang say from the side lines. Her ears rang a little, so she didn't know where he was exactly.

This wasn't over. She regained her standing, even though she was still laying down. She reached up and grabbed his shirt. She pulled him down closer to him and rolled him to the side. She pinned the leg that had previously been holding her down. She clasped a hand around his throat and held out her other hand like she would if she was holding a gun.

"Don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl," she hissed at him before standing up and brushing herself off. "Hold me down."

Havoc stood up and straightened his shirt. "That was not why I went easy on you," he retorted. He pointed a finger at her. "Next time-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hawkeye grabbed his hand and put another hand on his elbow, using her shoulder to flip him over on his back. There was a large _thud_ as he hit the padded floor. She dusted her hands off before leaving the ring. She walked over to the water fountain on the wall.

Mustang climbed through the ropes and walked over to Havoc, who had his arm over his eyes as he continued to lay where she had thrown him. He nudged his leg and offered him a hand up. Once the blonde was standing, he walked out of the mat and disappeared out of the room. Mustang assumed it was so that he could have a cigarette to calm down.

He looked over to Breda, Falman, and Fuery, who had all taken their turn in the ring against whoever seemed like a fitting match. Breda had fallen asleep, but he woke up after Havoc was slammed into the ground. Fuery had Black Hayate in his lap, but they both seemed unconcerned with everything that had just happened.

He heard footsteps behind him on the padded mat of the ring he was standing in. He turned and saw the previous champion behind him. As much as he didn't want to fight her, he knew he'd be doing more harm than good in denying her a match.

Mustang walked over to the edge of the ring and started to take his jacket off. "Do you know what you're getting into?" He said jokingly, letting her know that the match was hers if she wanted it.

Hawkeye raised her hands up in surrender. "I'm so scared," she flatly said.

He hanged his jacket on the post and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. "I'm not going to underestimate you based on your looks, but don't underestimate me because of mine."

She jokingly fanned off her face. "Who? Poor little me? You wouldn't dare hit a girl, right?" She walked closer to him as he moved towards her. "I'd've thought you were better than that."

He grabbed one of her hands. "Yeah, maybe not." He took that hand and twisted it behind her back. "Tell me when you've had enough," he whispered in her ear.

"We've seen this play out before," she hissed before pressing back into him.

He opened his mouth to reply he found himself jerked to the side. He didn't know when she had the time to work out to get the strength needed to shove him to the side like that. He knew she ran a lot, but arm strength wasn't always her strong point. Agility was always what she was best at.

Mustang still had a grip on her arm and used it to pull her with him. He put her in a headlock with one arm and kept the other one behind her back. He backed up to the edge of the ring and just held her there, waiting until she stopped pressing against him. Even though that was what he was waiting for, he had already made a mistake.

Hawkeye reached her leg back and braced it on the rope that edged the ring. She put the other one next to it, which put her more in his chokehold, but in a better position for her next move. She leaned forward and used the fact that most of his weight was upper body against him. She risked the pain in her neck to flip him over on the ground. Probably the only predictable move that she tended to make but no one seemed to remember it. She used his shock to roll out of his arm and into the opposite corner of the ring.

He coughed and stood up. "There it is." His side stung from where it hit against the ropes when she slammed him down. "Nice one."

"Don't go easy on me, darling." Her voice felt like poison. It was harsh and thick. There was a hidden rage behind the sweet voice that used to nibble on his ear.

As he ran towards her, he saw her duck below him. She dove between his legs, catching one in her grasp and trying to pull him down. He dipped a little, but he stayed standing. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She gave him a dead look before swinging her leg up at him. He leaned back, dodging the kick. The leg hooked against his arm. He could tell she was pulling herself up with the leg, so he brought his other arm up and blocked her leg. Wrapping his arm around that leg, he pulled her closer, as much as he could.

They stared at each other's eyes for a moment before Hawkeye let out a small scream and pushed against him as hard as she could. Her yell startled him, and he let go of her. She fell to the ground. She regained her stance and pushed against him, hitting his chest. He grabbed her hands and pulled her into a one-armed hug. It wasn't completely out of love, but more of a tender hold to make sure whatever emotion she was experiencing got out of her system.

Mistake number two: never underestimate the people you are close to. They know what will catch you off guard. She gave him a large shove while also tucking her foot behind his, leading to him falling to the ground. She dug her knee into his tricep and gripped his hair in her fist, holding his head down onto the mat.

Mustang closed his eyes. His head was starting to throb after being thrown to the ground twice. He was glad this was the one he had protecting him because she sure knew how to hurt him. After a moment of contemplating a struggle, he tapped his hand twice against the mat, telling her that he gave up.

She gave him a devilish smile before getting off of him. While she had her back turned when she stood up, he grabbed her belt and pulled her to the ground. He wasn't as harsh as she had been with him, but he gave it enough force to give her a message. He crawled over her and put his knee in her stomach. He raised his hand like he was going to produce a ball of fire in his hand and directed it at her. Of course, he would never actually do that.

"Don't get so cocky, my queen," he said in a low voice. He grabbed her jaw. "You never know when you'll be betrayed."

She raised an eyebrow before licking the hand that was holding onto her jaw. He laughed and stood up, wiping his hand off on his shirt. He jogged over to the edge of the ring and climbed out. He looked over at Havoc, who had returned from his leave, and pointed a finger at him.

"That's how you do it."

* * *

 **There you have it! I can't promise the next chapter will be out soon because I get super distracted (I have just twice in two days forgotten to put cold grocery items in the fridge until hours later), but I will try my hardest to not let it be six months again between the updates.**

 **3 Maddie**


End file.
